South Korean steel and chemical products were hit most by trade restrictions abroad last year, as countries continue to raise their guards to protect their industries, a report by a state-run trade promotion agency said Tuesday.

A total of 158 South Korea-made products faced import regulations in 26 countries in 2014, according to the report by Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.

Of these, 47 cases were safeguard measures that primarily aim to shield companies from outside competition, while the remaining 104 were anti-dumping measures, the report said.

Steel goods were met with the most restrictions, accounting for 39.2 percent of the cases, followed by chemical-related products with 27.8 percent, according to the report. Textiles and electronic items trailed with 10.8 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively.

Most of the protective actions were taken by emerging economies, as 81.6 percent of the measures took place in such countries including India, Indonesia, China and Brazil, the report said.

Aside from steel and chemical products, South Korea's other mainstay export items such as automobiles and electronic goods are also likely to face trade regulations overseas down the road as countries fortify their protection of local industries amid the expansion of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, the KOTRA report said. (Yonhap)