South Korea's automobile exports contracted for five months in a row in March due mainly to waning demand from emerging markets amid fast-falling commodity prices, the government said Sunday. 
Outbound shipments of vehicles came to 263,197 units last month, down 4.6% from 275,999 units tallied a year earlier, according to South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. 
The March figure narrowed from an 8.1% on-year drop in February and an 18.8% plunge in January, the fastest decline since October 2010, according to South Korea's (Yonhap) News Agency. 
But it jumped 37.3% on-month from February's 192,276 units. 
The total value of overseas shipments also fell 5.7% on-year to US$4.03 billion, but it posted a 34.4% on-month gain. 
For the first quarter, car exports fell 10.8% on-year to 654,494 units. 
"Falling oil and commodity prices dragged down car demand from emerging markets in the Middle East and Latin America," the ministry said in a release.