Exports of information technology equipment, which accounted for more than one-third of China's total exports, fell by a slower pace in the first 10 months of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said yesterday.

The exports of laptops, cell phones and hard disks dropped in the period but shipments of liquid crystal display TVs surged on robust global demand.

From January to October, the IT exports from the Chinese mainland were worth US$359.37 billion, a drop of 18.35 percent year-on-year. But the rate narrowed from a 19.8-percent fall in the first nine months, according to the ministry, which added that the industry "has started to recover."

Laptop exports dropped 3.61 percent annually to US$51.9 billion while those for mobile phones fell 6.27 percent to US$30.1 billion in the period. The exports of LCD TVs jumped 36.67 percent to US$5.64 billion, the ministry said.

Global TV shipments started to recover in the third quarter as the global recession began to ease. Sales of LCD TVs globally surged 38 percent to a record 37.5 million units, according to DisplaySearch, a United States-based IT consulting firm.

But the research firm warned that prices could not keep dropping in the global LCD TV market.

"The strong demand from consumers is predicated on attractive retail prices in the current economic environment, but manufacturers and retailers can't maintain price declines forever as production costs fall more slowly and new advanced features require modest to high price premiums," said Paul Gagnon, director of North America TV Research at DisplaySearch.