South Korean people's overseas direct purchases of Chinese electronic devices more than doubled last year from the previous year on rising demand for cheaper and better products, customs data showed Saturday.

A total of 4.09 million purchases of Chinese products were directly made via overseas internet shopping malls in 2017, up sharply from the previous year's 1.94 million, according to the data by the Korea Customs Service.

Out of the total, electronic devices, including mobile portable chargers and televisions accounted for 21.5 percent, or 880,000 purchases, last year.

South Koreans' demand for such China-made gadgets has been on a sharp upturn in recent years, with 52,000 direct purchases made in 2015 and 336,000 in 2016.

From the United States, South Korean shoppers made 13.3 million purchases last year, up 14 percent from a year earlier. They bought 4.23 million packs of dietary supplements, like vitamins online last year, soaring from 2.38 million a year earlier.

European cosmetics were the most popular item among South Korean online shoppers, with 1.02 million packs bought last year out 3.51 million purchases in total.

(Yonhap)