South Korean exports rose a greater-than-expected 46 percent in February, the biggest gain in 15 years, in response to accelerating global demand for the nation's semiconductors, cars and cell phones.

　　Overseas sales rose to US$19.5 billion from a year earlier after climbing 33 percent in January, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said in an e-mailed statement from Gwacheon, South Korea.

　　Surging exports of Samsung Electronics Co computer chips and Kia Motors Corp cars are stoking investment and hiring, helping Asia's fourth-largest economy weather a decline in consumer spending. Consumers are cutting back after a credit binge left one in 13 people unable to meet debt payments.

　　"The world economy, which was in a slump, is showing signs of recovering and so is the electronics industry," Yun Jong Yong, chief executive officer of Samsung Electronics, said on Friday at the company's annual meeting of shareholders.

　　Samsung Electronics, whose overseas sales account for more than a 10th of South Korean exports, plans to increase investment 18 percent to 7.9 trillion won (US$6.7 billion) this year.

　　Shipments of semiconductors, South Korea's biggest export item, surged 76 percent, compared with January's 16.6 percent gain. Worldwide chip sales will probably increase more than 23 percent this year after rising 14 percent in 2003, US-based researcher Gartner Inc said last Wednesday.

　　South Korean exporters are benefiting from surging demand in China, the United States and Japan, their top three markets.

　　(Bloomberg News)