| S. Korea sees surge in luxury goods imports in July |
| Date: 2010/8/24 Click: 1774 |
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South Korea saw a sharp hike in imports of luxury items thanks to a fast recovering economy, the Seoul customs office said Wednesday.
According to the Korea Customs Service (KCS), South Korea reported a 143.9 percent year-on-year gain in imported foreign- made automobiles, with the import amount standing at 214 million U. S. dollars.
For the first seven months of 2010, the total foreign automobile imports amounted to 1.52 billion U.S. dollars, up 62.1 percent from 940 million U.S. dollars marked during the same period last year, the KCS said.
As for gold, South Korea's imports expanded 50.1 percent to 145 million U.S. dollars in July from a year ago when the total imports stood at 97 million U.S. dollars, according to the organization.
The 2010 accumulative gold imports until July also increased 67. 4 percent to 911 million U.S. dollars, the KCS said.
Golf item imports, in the mean time, climbed 5.5 percent to 30 million U.S. dollars in July, marking a slow-down in the growth pace, while the January-to-July imports amounted to 290 million U. S. dollars, rising 26.3 percent annually.
In addition, liquor imports, which soared 34.0 percent on year in July to log 51 million U.S. dollars, gained 26.9 percent and reported an accumulative amount of 232 million U.S. dollars for the first seven months of 2010.
"As the demand for luxury goods shrank in the face of the financial crisis last year, a recovery in the economy prompted a revival in luxury goods imports," an official at the KCS was quoted as saying by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency. |
