South Korea's imports of golf equipment rose to a record high in the first 10 months of this year on the back of strong demand amid the pandemic, customs data showed Wednesday.

The imports of golf clubs and other related equipment reached $601 million in the January-October period, up 29.3 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.

The reading hit an all-time high for any first 10 month period of the year. It was also higher than the yearly imports of golf products for the whole of 2020, valued at $542 million.

The increase in imports came as more people viewed golf as a relatively safe sport amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the customs agency.

By item, imports of golf clubs grew 32.2 percent on-year to $389 million, and those of golf balls increased 8.4 percent to $84 million.

By country, Japan remained the biggest exporter of golf equipment to South Korea with $279 million.

But the proportion of imports from Japan has been on the decline since 2018. It made up 46.5 percent of the total imports in the first 10 months of the year, down from 48.9 percent in 2020. (Yonhap)