SEOUL, July 25 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's passenger car export rose in the first half of 2019 on demand for environmentally-friendly vehicles, customs office data showed Thursday.
Passenger car export amounted to 19.8 billion U.S. dollars in the January-June period, up 6.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the Korea Customs Service.
The number of passenger cars exported in the six-month period was 1.26 million, up 2.1 percent from a year ago.
It was attributed to solid demand from the United States, Canada and Russia, especially for environmentally-friendly vehicles.
In terms of value, passenger car exports to the United States, Canada and Russia logged a double-digit expansion in the first half, while those to Australia, Saudi Arabia and France declined in the period.
Export of environmentally-friendly vehicles jumped 39.6 percent over the year to 2.59 billion dollars in the first half, accounting for 13.1 percent of the total that gained from 9.9 percent a year earlier.
Import of foreign luxury passenger vehicles contracted 19.6 percent from a year earlier to 4.8 billion dollars for the first six months of this year.
The number of imported passenger cars was 140,000 in the first half, down 11.5 percent from a year ago.
