South Korea's share in the global export market hit a 14-year low last year in the wake of stagnating outbound shipments.

According to data from the Korea International Trade Association(KITA) on Sunday, South Korea's export value stood at 683-point-six billion U.S. dollars, or two-point-74 percent of the global total in 2022, down zero-point-14 percentage points on-year.

The country's market share, which stayed above three percent for five straight years from 2014, has steadily declined from two-point-nine percent in 2020 and two-point-88 percent in 2021 due largely to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The nation's latest export market share of two-point-74 percent is the lowest since the two-point-61 percent recorded in 2008 amid the global financial crisis.

KITA attributed the decline to the increasing trade protectionism stemming from the Sino-U.S. rivalry, the protracted war in Ukraine, and the slowdown in the semiconductor industry.

The ratio of semiconductors, the country's key export item that hovered around 20 percent of the total export volume in 2018, has remained below the mark for four consecutive years since 2019.