South Korean car exports to Russia dropped sharply in January, mainly due to the weak ruble that made it unprofitable to sell cars in the country, a local trade association said Sunday.

According to statistics provided by the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) and local carmakers, shipments of new cars to Russia reached 3,097 units in the first month of this year, down 71.5 percent from 10,862 tallied a year earlier.

The Russian currency traded at 71.9 rubles to the U.S. dollar at one point in January. It managed to rise to 61.16 rubles to the greenback on Feb. 27, but most market watchers predicted the gain is not sustainable in light of uncertainty triggered by the Russia-Ukraine crisis and other political and economic issues.

Sources also said this drop affected exports to non-European Union (EU) countries in Europe that stood at 6,591 units in January, down 62.9 percent from 17,768 units reported for January 2013. Both Russia and Ukraine are non-EU countries, KAMA said.

By company, exports by Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's No. 1 carmaker, to non-EU countries, which stood at 5,622 units in January last year, fell to just 2,691 vehicles in the first month of 2015. Hyundai's corporate cousin Kia Motors Corp. reported selling 2,417 units in January compared with 4,417 cars the year before.

Shipments by GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of U.S. automaker General Motors Co., nosedived from 6,688 to 1,363.

KAMA said the weak ruble made it impractical to export for profit.

Kia said in January it was cutting back shipments of cars from its Slovakia plant to Russia because of unfavorable exchange rates.

It, however, said that efforts have been made to concentrate on selling its Rio subcompact, made in Russia, for the time being, in order maintain its dealership network.

This strategy was followed by Hyundai, which focused on its Solaris model, also made at the carmaker's Saint Petersburg plant.

This "localization plan" allowed the two carmakers to sell more Hyundai and Kia brand cars in the country in January compared with last year, despite a drop in exports.

Kia said its total sales stood at 11,346 units, up 1 percent from the year before, while Hyundai sales jumped 15 percent on-year to 12,707 units. (Yonhap)