South Korea's exports of autos declined for the first time in seven quarters in the January-March period amid global supply chain disruptions and Russia's war with Ukraine, customs data showed Thursday.

The country's outbound shipments of cars came to $10.93 billion in the first quarter, down 0.6 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.

Autos accounted for some 7 percent of South Korea's exports.

It marked the first on-year fall since the second quarter of 2020 when car exports fell 40.6 percent.

The decline was mainly blamed on the continued shortage of auto chips and global supply chain disruptions. Russia's war with Ukraine also dented South Korea's auto exports to Russia, according to the customs office. (Yonhap)