South Korea’s automotive export hit a new record high in the first half of this year owing to robust demand for eco-friendly vehicles, government data showed Monday.
Car shipment surged 46.6 percent from a year earlier to 35.7 billion U.S. dollars in the January-June period, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
It surpassed the previous high of 25.2 billion dollars tallied in the first half of 2014 on the continued global demand for locally-made electric vehicles.
The number of exported vehicles was 1,423,017 in the first half, up 32.6 percent from a year earlier.
Export for eco-friendly cars jumped 70.4 percent to 12.4 billion dollars, while the number of exported such vehicles soared 51.5 percent to 384,681.
The number of vehicles manufactured in local factories gained 23.5 percent from a year earlier to 2,197,687 in the first half, topping 2 million in four years since 2019.
The number of cars sold in South Korea, including locally-made and imported vehicles, was 893,737 in the first half, up 10.7 percent from a year earlier.
