SEOULtexasholdembonus, July 16 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's automotive export turned downward in three months due to lower global demand for eco-friendly vehicles, government data showed Tuesday.
Car shipment shrank 0.4 percent from a year earlier to 6.2 billion U.S. dollars in June after growing for the past two months, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
For the first six months of this year, the automotive shipment reached 37.01 billion dollars, up 3.8 percent compared to the same period of last year.
The number of exported vehicles was 252,360 in June, up 5.0 percent from a year earlier.
Export for eco-friendly cars declined 16.2 percent to 1.85 billion dollars last month, and auto parts shipment reduced 11.6 percent to 1.76 billion dollars.
Car export to North America jumped 18.8 percent to 3.68 billion dollars, but those to Europe and Asia dwindled in double digits to 970 million dollars and 460 million dollars each.
The number of vehicles, manufactured in local factories, slipped 4.5 percent to 353,577 in June.
The number of cars sold domestically, including locally-made and imported vehicles, came to 137,893 in June, down 15.2 percent from a year earlier.■