South Korea’s online food market posted explosive growth in 2020 from a year earlier due to the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, data showed.

The value of online food transactions in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 43.4 trillion won ($39.2 billion) last year, up 62.4 percent from a year earlier, according to data from Statistics Korea and industry sources.

The online food market surpassed the 40 trillion-won mark last year after reaching 26.7 trillion won the previous year.

Last year’s surge was attributed to a marked increase in contact-free consumption in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. (Yonhap)