South Korean exports jumped a better-than-expected 7.3% in September, fresh data says. Mobile phone exports were a hot spot. They jumped 33% versus the prior year, thanks in part to Korean behemoth Samsung Electronics, which has been on a tear recently. (Though interestingly, Samsung’s growth has been centered in cheaper phones and semiconductors rather than the more expensive line of smartphones.) But it was clearly phones that drove the export numbers up. “Korea’s electronics industry received strong Christmas orders,” wrote Barclays analysts.
