Korea's toy imports hit record high through April: data

The amount of toy imports in South Korea rose to a record level in the first four months of this year on robust demand for character robots, government data showed Wednesday.

The inbound shipment of kids' toys reached a record $276 million in the January-April period, up 3.1 percent from $267 million the previous year, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and its affiliated Korea Culture Information Service Agency.
 

The purchase of character toys, including robots, posted the biggest growth, up nearly 75.8 percent on-year to $70.6 million in the cited period, the data showed.

Motorized vehicles for children dropped 2 percent on-year to reach $15.2 million over the tallied months.

"The increasing popularity of character robots that transform themselves fueled demand," an industry source said. He said most of the toys were imported from China.

The overall toy exports by local vendors have amounted to a cumulative $26.2 million from January to April, down 8.2 percent from a year ago. (Yonhap)