Double-digit Growth in Production, Domestic Sales and Exports
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on Feb. 15 that South Korea’s automobile production, domestic sales and exports increased 24.9 percent, 18.4 percent and 29.5 percent year on year last month, respectively. For the first time in five months, the three figures increased more than 10 percent without exception.
The exports increased from 148,546 to 192,322 in one year. Especially, SUV exports jumped 37.7 percent and the ratio of the exports to the total automobile exports increased 3.7 percentage points to 71.7 percent. With the U.S. demand recovering, automobile exports rose in every product category except for compact car.
The export value reached US$4 billion in January this year, up 40.2 percent from a year ago. It is the highest rate of increase since September 2017. With high-end SUVs and green cars leading the exports, the value increment exceeded 150 percent of the volume increment. Last month, South Korea’s green car exports hit an all-time high of US$900 million, about 25 percent of the total automobile exports.
In the domestic market, 134,692 cars were sold last month, including approximately 22,000 imported cars. The monthly production volume increased from 251,578 to 314,190 in one year. The year-on-year increase of 24.9 percent is the highest since October 2018.