SEOUL-- South Korea's imports of home furnishing products hit an all-time high last year on the back of demand by stay-at-home consumers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Wednesday.

The imports of eight kinds of home furnishing goods, including sofas and lamps, came to US$3.5 billion last year, up 15.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.

It rose 26.1 percent from the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

"As more people engaged in remote working and spent time at home amid tighter COVID-19 social distancing rules, they got more interested in decorating homes, boosting imports of related goods," the customs office said.

Imports of sofas and stools rose 13.5 percent on-year to $1.64 billion last year. Those of lamps gained 21.8 percent to $762 million and bedding increased 15.7 percent to $654 million.

By country, inbound shipments from China were the largest with $2.63 billion, followed by Vietnam with $332 million, the data showed.

Source: Yonhap News Agency