Online purchases of domestic products by foreign buyers last year reached KRW 3.023 trillion. Shown are items at a cosmetics store in Seoul's Jongno-gu District. (Lee Jihae)

By Lee Jihae

Online purchases of Korean products by foreign consumers last year reached KRW 3.02 trillion.

In a report on annual online shopping trends of 2025 and December that year, the Ministry of Data and Statistics on Feb. 2 said the transactional value of goods sold by domestic businesses to consumers abroad last year reached KRW 3.02 trillion, up 16.4% from 2024.

By item, food and beverages saw the biggest jump with 49.2%. Cosmetics (20.4%) and music recordings, videos and instruments (7%) also showed growth.

With global demand for Korean goods expanding, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources on Feb. 10 released a three-year plan to be launched this year to promote the overseas advance of domestic distributors.

Annual public investment of KRW 47.1 billion from this year for this purpose will go to 13 selected companies -- eight in distribution and five in e-commerce. The ministry will also provide such businesses with customized support for overseas field research, marketing and logistics.

jihlee08@korea.kr