South Korea’s airfreight exports jumped to account for 36 percent of the country’s overall exports last year, industry data showed, on higher demand for chips and bio-health products.

Of the country’s combined exports of $512.5 billion in 2020, air transport accounted for $183 billion, according to the data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association.

While maritime transport still accounted for the majority of $325.8 billion, the portion of air cargo rose 5.4 percentage points on-year, while maritime shipping edged down 5.6 percentage points.

The association said the increase in the volume of air cargo came amid the growing global demand for high-value products such as memory chips, solid-state drives, bio-health goods and organic light-emitting diode displays. (Yonhap)