The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on Nov. 16 that South Korea’s automobile exports totaled 200,666 cars last month, down 3.2 percent from a year ago. After the outbreak of COVID-19, the monthly exports dropped 44.6 percent year on year in April, 57.5 percent in May, 40.1 percent in June, 11.7 percent in July and 19.5 percent in August before rebounding 14.8 percent in September. Last month, South Korea’s average daily automobile exports increased 7 percent year on year to 10,561 cars with sales increasing in North America, Europe and the Middle East. In addition, the total value of the monthly exports increased 5.8 percent from a year ago as the export ratio of relatively more expensive SUVs and green cars rose.
Last month, South Korea’s automobile production volume fell 4.3 percent year on year to 336,279 due to less business days and partial strikes at GM Korea. The company’s production volume decreased by approximately 7,000 in one month and this is equivalent to 45.7 percent of last month’s decrease. The average daily production volume of the industry was 17,699 last month, up 5.8 percent from a year earlier. The domestic automobile sales increased 1.7 percent to 160,151, led by new models and an increase in domestic car sales volume. Auto parts exports added up to US$1.81 billion, down 9.3 percent from a year ago.