SEOUL, June 18 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's corporate revenue fell in the first quarter on weak export, caused mainly by the downturn in business cycle of the global semiconductor industry, central bank data showed Tuesday.
Corporate revenue reduced 2.4 percent in the January-March quarter compared with the same quarter of last year, marking the first fall in two and a half years, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It was based on a sample survey of 3,333 companies subject to external audit.
The decline was attributed to the slowdown in the global chip industry's business cycle that led to lower chip price. The country's export kept sliding for six straight months since December last year.
Revenue in the electrical and electronic sectors, which include the chipmakers, slipped 9 percent in the quarter from a year earlier.
Manufacturers saw a 3.7 percent decline in revenue in the cited period, while revenue for non-manufacturers dipped 0.7 percent in the quarter.
Corporate profitability also weakened. The ratio of operating profit to revenue diminished to 5.3 percent in the first quarter from 7.5 percent a year earlier.
The ratio for manufacturers contracted from 9.1 percent to 5.7 percent in the cited period, while the figure for non-manufacturers slipped from 5.4 percent to 4.6 percent.