Korea's automobile exports reach $4.4 billion in April

The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy announced on May 16 that Korea's April automobiles exports recorded 196,780 units (up 12.4 percent) and USD 4.4 billion (up 6.1 percent) in value.

Despite escalating global supply chain uncertainties, Korea showed mostly robust performance in its automobile production, domestic demand, and exports compared to the previous month.

Production of cars suffered year-on-year from car parts shortages, less operating days (1 less), and supply chain holes from China's zero COVID-19 lockdowns, sliding 5.3 percent down to 306,462 units. However, month-on-month production inched up 1.4 percent.

Eco-friendly cars saw high domestic demand, but persisting backlog problems and high base effect dragged down domestic sales by 11.1 percent to 143,167 units year-on-year. For month-on-month domestic sales, April saw a 3.3 percent gain compared to those of March.

Homegrown brands dominated the top five domestic bestseller spots. The majority of finished cars experienced a decline in sales by 11.2 percent year-on-year, but month-on-month domestic sales, on the other hand, posted constant positive growth through January to April, the latter outdoing March by 8,902 units.

With the exception of Swedish brands (up 41.9 percent), imported cars diminished in sales by 10.6 percent to 23,200 units. Japanese (down 16.6 percent), U.S. (down 57.3 percent), German (down 3.5 percent), UK (down 15.3 percent), French (down 39.6 percent), and Italian (down 29.7 percent) all dropped year-on-year.

In spite of supply chain uncertainties, high global demand for Korea's eco-friendly cars drove up total April automobile exports (up 12.4 percent to 196,780 units) to hit second highest in terms of units since COVID-19 outbreak, topped only by those of March 2020 (206,677 units). In terms of value, April car exports reached a record-breaking $4.4 billion (up 6.1 percent), only matched by those of March 2021 (also $4.4 billion).

Eco-friendly car sales in domestic market saw growth for three consecutive months, selling 39,624 units in April (up 57.7 percent) and setting new records for two months straight. Homegrown brands skyrocketed in domestic sales (up 83.6 percent) to 28,996 units, whereas foreign brands rose (up 13.9 percent) by a gentler slope to 10,628 units.

Exports of green cars grew in both units (up 40.2 percent to 47,953 units) and value (up 42.4 percent to $1.3 billion) for 16 consecutive months, achieving historic highs. Green cars exports took up 30.1 percent of total car exports in value, led by HEVs (up 54.3 percent to $0.6 billion).

Double-digit growth was seen for HEVs (up 51.8 percent to 28,851 units), EVs (up 28.1 percent to 15,069 units), and plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) (up 21.7 percent to 4,027 units), whereas fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) suffered a sharp dive (down 95.0 percent to 6 units).

By destination, outbound shipments to the U.S (up 1.0 percent to $2.0 billion), GCC (up 30.9 percent to $345 million), Latin America (up 23.4 percent to $230 million), Africa (up 15.9 percent to $57 million), Oceania (up 55.9 percent to $410 million), and Asia (up 48.4 percent to $323 million) climbed by mostly double-digits. Shipments to the EU and Eastern Europe shrank 6.9 percent and 26.4 percent, respectively.

As for car parts, outbound shipments waned 4.8 percent to $1.9 billion due to global supply chain risks and local production line shutdowns.

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