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Korea's exports of used vehicles to Russia skyrocket by 1,163% last year

Published: 13 Feb. 2023, 13:43 Updated: 13 Feb. 2023, 18:56

Vehicles are parked at a used-car market in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul, on Jan. 11. [NEWS1]

Korea's used vehicle exports to Russia skyrocketed by 1,163 percent last year as new car releases are banned amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Overseas shipments of secondhand vehicles came to $573 million in 2022, up 1,163.2 percent on year, according to data by Korea International Trade Association (KITA).

That's a total of 19,626 units, a 732.3 percent year-on-year increase.

Korea exported a total of 404,653 used cars to overseas last year, of them, 4.9 percent were shipped to Russia.

"Since the second quarter of last year when the U.S. and European carmakers were prohibited from exporting their cars to Russia, the demand has been concentrating on Korea and Japan," said Shin Hyeon-do who runs a used car export company.

Last year, the average price of a used car exported to Russia was $29,200, four times higher than the average price of all other exported cars. In 2021, the average price of a used car sold to Russia was some $19,200.

Many global automakers have shut down their businesses in Russia since the war.

Hyundai Motor in March paused operations of its assembly plant in Saint-Petersburg, which annual production capacity of 200,000. Popular Solaris sedans and Creta SUVs were produced there.

France's Renault, Japan's Toyota, Germany's Mercedes-Benz and Ford have also shut down their businesses in Russia.

BY SARAH CHEA [[email protected]]