According to Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea,

South Korea’s car industry has recorded a double-digit growth in production, domestic sales and exports for two consecutive months in February driven by overall high demand and popularity of sport utility vehicles and electric cars.

The nation’s February automobile output jumped 37.9 percent compared to a year earlier with domestic sales up 24.2 percent and exports 35 percent, following a double-digit increase in all three sectors in January, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Monday. This is the first two-month consecutive double-digit increase in the three sectors since the August-September period in 2017.

Local automakers shipped 161,886 units of vehicles overseas last month thanks to the recovery in global demand and brisk sales of SUVs and electric cars. Export turnover soared 47 percent on year to $3.53 billion.

Overseas shipments of mid- to large-sized vehicles sharply increased last month, according to the trade ministry, with exports of Hyundai’s mid-sized sedan Sonata soaring 120 percent, Kia’s K5 448 percent and Kia’s sports car Stinger 243 percent, amid ongoing robust sales of compact SUV models such as Kona, Trailblazer and Sportage.

Green car exports grew 70.9 percent from a year ago to 24,932 units in February, with export turnover surging 102.6 percent to $700 million. Both export volume and turnover reached the highest level for February.

Eco-friendly cars took up 16 percent of the overall auto exports last month, up 3.5 percentage points from last year.

Auto output reached 260,958 units last month along with the normalization of part supplies and increasing export demand. In February last year, the carmakers suffered from supply disruptions due to factory shutdowns in China at the height of Covid-19 restrictions.

Domestic sales totaled 123,317 units despite reduced working days due to the Lunar New Year holiday thanks to favorable market responses to new releases like Kia’s family van Carnival, Hyundai’s compact SUV Tucson and Genesis GV70.

Meanwhile, exports of Korean ICT products also showed a strong recovery momentum.
The Ministry of Science and ICT said on Monday that Korean ICT exports totaled $15.28 billion in February, up 11.5 percent from the same month a year ago, continuing growth for nine straight months. The figure was the second highest for February.



By Choi Mira

Copyrights Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea. All Rights Reserved.

Source: Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea (Mar 15, 2021)