Seoul
South Korea’s automobile exports sank 25 percent in February from a year earlier to extend their on-year drop to the seventh month in a row as the operation of local car factories was partially disrupted amid the global outbreak of the new coronavirus, data showed Friday. South Korean carmakers shipped 123,022 units of cars overseas last month, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of value, auto exports also moved down 16.6 percent over the period to US$2.4 billion. In the first two months of 2020, South Korea shipped 271,568 units of cars, down 27.4 percent from a year earlier. The country’s outbound shipments of cars have been on a decline since August. South Korea’s exports of cars especially lost ground last month as local carmakers were forced to shut down their production lines for up to 10 days as they were not able to secure sufficient auto parts from China amid the epidemic. Hyundai Motor Co., the nation’s No. 1 automaker, saw its overall exports fall 21.4 percent on-year despite its increased shipments of SUVs after closing down its factories for 10.6 days.—APP
