South Korea's tech product exports kept a growth trend for 11 straight months due to robust demand for semiconductors and handsets, a government report showed Thursday.

Exports by the tech industry increased 10.1 percent from a year earlier to 14.07 billion U.S. dollars in July, keeping growth for the 11 consecutive month, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE).

Trade surplus of the sector was 7.32 billion dollars in July, almost tripling a surplus of 2.71 billion dollars for all industries.

For the first seven months of this year, tech exports totaled 95.3 billion dollars, up 10.8 percent from the same period of last year. Over the same period, trade surplus reached a record high of 49.3 billion dollars.

Handset exports soared 31.2 percent on year to 1.88 billion dollars last month on the back of brisk shipments of locally made smartphones. Samsung Electronics ranked first in terms of global smartphone market share for six straight quarters, with LG Electronics staying in the third place for two quarters in a row.

Combined shares of Samsung and LG in the global smartphone market reached 38.4 percent in the second quarter, driving the country to rank first for nine straight quarters.

Semiconductor exports surged 21.7 percent from a year earlier to 4.8 billion dollars in July, maintaining their growth trend for 10 straight months. Memory chip shipments soared 55.2 percent last month, and system chip exports rose 2 percent.

TV exports increased 19.8 percent in July from a year earlier due to strong demand for premium products such as smart TVS, but display panel shipments fell 15.1 percent amid falling prices in TV panels. Shipments of computers and computer-related devices slid 11.5 percent amid the sluggish PC market. Endi

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