South Korea's exports of agricultural and processed food products declined from a year earlier in October as shipments of processed food and major markets backtracked, the government said Sunday.

Outbound shipments of food and other farm products reached $549.9 million in the one-month period, down 1.8 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

In October, exports of all South Korean-made products nosedived 15.8 percent on-year.

The dip in exports of farm produce and foodstuffs was due to less shipments going to the Japan, Russia and the Gulf Cooperation Council. which offset a gains in foodstuffs going to China, the United States, the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

In October, shipments to Japan, a key market, plunged 18 percent to $98.43 million. Numbers for Russia and GCC were off 45.2 percent and 22.7 percent on-year.

Exports of fresh produces and meat edged up 0.3 percent to $97.2 million, but numbers for processed food were down 2.3 percent to $452.7 million.

"The decline in processed food that includes noodles, cookies and dairy products hurt overall numbers," it said.

Shipments to the United States, on the other hand, rose 15.6 percent to $68.8 million, with figures for China reaching $96.5 million for a gain of 3.1 percent on-year.

ASEAN and EU exports moved up 6.5 percent and 13.5 percent, on-year in the one month period.

In the 10 months of this year, farm and processed food exports dipped 1.1 percent from a year earlier. The total shipped out stood at $5.06 billion, down from $5.12 billion last year.

Data showed that exports of fresh produce dropped 13.1 percent, while processed food moved up 1.5 percent.

Shipments to Japan dropped 11.6 percent on-year while numbers for China and the United States rose 6.7 percent and 6.3 percent each. (Yonhap)