SEOUL, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Online shopping in South Korea hit a record monthly high in March as the air pollution of fine dust increased demand for air purifiers in the cyberspace, a government report showed Friday.

Purchase in the cyberspace amounted to 11.2 trillion won (9.6 billion U.S. dollars) in March, up 18.6 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.

It was the biggest monthly figure since relevant data began to be compiled in 2001, topping the 11 trillion won (9.4 billion U.S. dollars) for the first time.

Online transaction of consumer electronics and telecommunication devices surged 40.1 percent on demand for air purifier and clothing dryer, caused by the severe air pollution of fine dust.

Demand for food delivery services through smartphone apps jumped 89.8 percent as people refrained from doing the outside activity on worry about fine dust.

Among the total online shopping, the mobile shopping through smartphones advanced 27.9 percent over the year to 7.05 trillion won (6 billion U.S. dollars) in March, surpassing the 7 trillion won for the first time.

During the January-March quarter, online shopping reached a new quarterly high of 31.4 trillion won (27 billion U.S. dollars), up 17.5 percent from the same quarter of last year.