Exports of South Korea's small and medium-sized firms hit a record high last year.

According to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups on Sunday, shipments by the country's small and medium-sized firms came to 114-point-six billion U.S. dollars last year, up eight percent from a year earlier.

The figure is a record high and surpassed the 100-billion-dollar mark for the second consecutive year.

The ministry said the global semiconductor boom and the growing popularity of K-Pop and Korean culture led to an increase in the exports of related products last year.

Small and medium-sized firms accounted for 18-point-nine percent of the country's total exports last year, up point-four percentage points from a year earlier. The figure is steadily increasing over the past years from 18-point-three percent in 2015.