SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's online direct overseas sales in the third quarter hit the highest in six years, driven by a surge in duty-free cosmetics sales, statistical ministry data showed Monday.
The online direct overseas sales soared 40.7 percent from a year earlier to 1.09 trillion won (810.5 million U.S. dollars) in the July-September quarter, posting the highest third-quarter figure since 2020, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
Online duty-free sales jumped 90.5 percent to 371.7 billion won as cosmetics accounted for the lion's share at 306.0 billion won.
Cosmetics led the overall sales at 636.3 billion won, followed by clothing and fashion products at 92.3 billion won, and music records, videos and musical instruments at 84.4 billion won.
Meanwhile, online direct overseas purchases shrank 6.3 percent year-on-year to 1.99 trillion won in the third quarter, marking the second consecutive quarterly reduction.
The slowdown was attributed to the lingering effects of the strong U.S. dollar through the early third quarter.
Direct purchases of sports and leisure goods increased in double digits, but those for clothing and fashion products and cosmetics decreased in double digits. ■