SEOUL, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Online shopping in South Korea hit a record monthly high in January on strong demand for air purifier, a government report showed Wednesday.

Shopping in the cyberspace amounted to 10.7 trillion won (9.5 billion U.S. dollars) in January, up 17.9 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.

It was the biggest monthly figure since the statistical agency began compiling the data in January 2001. The record-breaking trend continued since October last year.

The record online sale came as demand got stronger for air purifier amid severe fine dust striking the entire country in recent months.

Ahead of the Lunar New year's holiday that fell on early February this year, consumers bought food in the cyberspace.

Online sale of home appliances and telecommunication devices jumped 24.1 percent in January from a year earlier.

Demand for food and beverage surged 38.7 percent in the month, with those for food delivery services soaring 80 percent.

Meanwhile, mobile shopping through smartphone advanced 27.7 percent over the year to 6.8 trillion won (6 billion U.S. dollars) in January.

The portion of mobile shopping to the total online purchase was 63.7 percent in January, the highest since relevant data began to be compiled in 2013.