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Exports of information and communications equipment
Exports of ICT goods accounted for much of the growth in trade over the past decade. In all OECD countries, they grew more rapidly than total manufacturing exports. This is especially the case for high-technology exports.
Definition
The OECD has developed a commodity-based definition of the ICT sector based on the CPC (Central Product Classification) and the Harmonised System (HS). The definition of ICT goods includes the following broad categories: telecommunications equipment; computer and related equipment; electronic components; audio and video equipment; and other ICT goods.
Comparability
The data for this table are taken from the statistics on international trade. These are compiled according to internationally agreed standards and are generally considered to be of good comparability. Note, however, that the data for Australia, Austria, Belgium, China, the Czech Republic, Finland and Portugal in the graph refer to 2004 and not 2005.
Exports of ICT equipment Billions of US dollars |
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Exports of ICT equipment Billions of US dollars
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Long-term trends Growth of exports has been particularly high for the countries that started with a low base in 1996 – Hungary, Iceland, the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic, Turkey and Poland. Germany and especially Korea stand out as countries which started the period with substantial ICT exports and which have seen them grow rapidly between 1996 and 2005. By the end of the period, the OECD countries could be divided into three groups – United States, Japan, Germany and Korea with high exports of ICT goods, a middle group consisting of the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Mexico, France and Ireland and the remainder with relatively low values of ICT exports. As noted above, however, some of these, such as the four Central European countries, are rapidly increasing the value of their ICT exports. Among the five non-member countries, growth of ICT exports has been slow and steady for all except China which has experienced spectacular growth in exports of ICT goods. Between 1996 and 2004, the value of ICT exports from China have been growing at an average rate of 33% per year and in 2004, China’s ICT exports surpassed those of the United States. |
Sources
Further information
Analytical publications
- OECD (2006), OECD Information Technology Outlook 2006, OECD, Paris.
Methodological publications
- OECD (2003), A proposed classification of ICT goods, OECD, Paris, www.oecd.org/dataoecd/5/61/22343094.pdf.
Websites
- OECD Key ICT indicators, www.oecd.org/sti/ictindicators.
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