Korea's exports of automobiles plunged more than 13 percent in the first six months of the year on the back of falling demand from new emerging markets, government data showed Sunday.

Korean carmakers shipped 1.33 million units of vehicles abroad over the January-June period, down 13.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. 


The government said the decrease followed the sluggish growth in new emerging markets, such as the Middle East, and the Central and South Americas.

Overseas shipments to the Middle East region tumbled 40.3 percent on-year and to the Central and South Americas decreased

15.3 percent on-year.

Auto sales in the domestic market, however, jumped more than 9 percent in the first half of this year from a year earlier, the data showed, an increase that could be attributable to a temporary tax cut on cars.

The combined sales of automakers operating in Korea came to 934,864 units in the January-June period, up 9.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data.

Sales of foreign cars in Korea, meanwhile, were weighed down by a slump of German automaker Volkswagen Group in the wake of a widening probe into its emissions scandal here, the data showed.

The percentage of imports out of the total came to 14 percent in the January-June period, down 1.2 percentage points from 15.2 percent a year earlier, the data showed. (Yonhap)