South Korea’s surplus in the automobile sector declined on-year during the third quarter as imports of vehicles jumped on the growing need for foreign brands, customs data showed Friday.

South Korea exported a total of 653,000 units of vehicles, which was worth $9.3 billion, during the July-September period, up 2.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Korea Customs Service.

Car imports surged 37.4 percent over the same period to 64,000, which was estimated at $2.1 billion.

The country’s trade surplus came to $7.2 billion during the third quarter, down 4.7 percent from the same period a year before, the data showed.

Unit prices of imports far exceeded those of exports.

The average unit prices of exported cars stood at $14,214, down 0.7 percent from a year ago, while those of imports grew 9.9 percent to $32,893, the data showed. (Yonhap)