South Korea's exports of information technology (IT) products dropped last month due to lingering external uncertainties such as Europe's debt crisis, a government report showed Thursday.

Exports of locally-manufactured IT products amounted to 12.37 billion U.S. dollars in March, down 8.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. For the first three months of this year, the exports contracted 5.7 percent on-year to 35.33 billion dollars.

The ministry attributed the negative growth to still uncertain external conditions such as the European fiscal crisis and slowdown in China's economic growth, saying that the high base effect also contributed to the minus growth.

Despite the minus growth, trade surplus in the sector reached 5. 85 billion dollars in March, more than double from 2.33 billion dollars in the black for all industries as imports tumbled 9.8 percent on-year to 6.52 billion dollars last month.

By item, exports of semiconductors declined 3.6 percent on-year to 4.31 billion dollars in March amid weak demand from Europe and China, but system chips, which incorporate software and hardware components into a sing unit, showed outperformance amid strong demand for smartphones and tablet PCs.

Outbound shipments of memory chips plunged 24.9 percent on-year to 1.76 billion dollars in March, but system chip exports surged 31.3 percent to 1.99 billion dollars, posting an on-year growth for 31 straight months.

Exports of display panels shrank 6.6 percent on-year to 2.52 billion dollars in March. Shipments of panels for flat screen TVs dropped 6.3 percent amid fragile demand for such items in advanced economies, but mobile panel exports logged the eighth consecutive month of on-year expansion.

Shipments of handsets plunged 31.2 percent on-year to 1.49 billion dollars in March. The country ranked first in terms of the global market share of mobile phone and smartphone, but exports continued their downward trend due to local firms'expansion in overseas production, the ministry said.

Exports of computer and computer-related products such as printers and monitors declined 12.1 percent on-year to 570 million dollars in March. Computer exports tumbled 40.8 percent amid weakening global PC market, but monitor shipments jumped by 15.1 percent due to solid demand for large-sized monitors.

Outbound shipments of TVs dropped 24.9 percent on-year to 540 million dollars in March amid saturating demand in advanced nations and overall underperformance in the global TV market.

By country, exports to China, including Hong Kong, fell 2.7 percent on-year to 6.12 billion dollars in March, with shipments to the United States and Europe dropping 14.7 percent and 20.4 percent respectively.

The ministry expected the IT exports to reach 162.6 billion dollars for the whole of 2012, up 3.8 percent from the previous year, saying that the country's IT industry will continue to improve down the road thanks to the growth of smartphones and system semiconductors.