S. Korean air shipments soar to $183 billion

South Korea's airfreight export deliveries reached $183 billion in 2020 to account for 36 percent of the country's combined $512.5 billion exports last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA).

Maritime transport still accounted for the majority of $325.8 billion, but it edged down 5.6 percentage points while air cargo rose 5.4 percentage points on-year.

According to KITA, the increase in air cargo volume was triggered by the growing global demand for high-value products, such as memory chips, solid-state drives, organic light-emitting diode (OLED), and biohealth goods.

Last year, South Korea's chip exports increased 5.6 percent to reach $99.1 billion, while those of biohealth products surged 54.4 percent to reach $14 billion.

KITA noted that maritime shipping lost ground due to the high freight costs coupled with container shortages.

The weaker performance of heavier goods, such as automobiles and steel, contributed to the weaker demand for maritime shipping services.

Automobile exports shed 13.1 percent on-year at $47.9 billion, and those of steel dropped 14.4 percent to $26.5 billion.