Seoul, Feb 6 (IANS): Kia, South Korea's second-largest automaker said its sales fell 5.7 percent last month from a year earlier as the global chip shortage continued to affect its production.

Kia sold 2,12,819 vehicles in January, down from 2,25,733 units a year ago, the company said in a statement.

Sales in South Korea declined 11 per cent on-year to 37,038 units last month from 41,481, while exports were down 4.6 per cent to 1,75,781 from 1,84,252 during the cited period, it said.

Continued chip shortages and the spreading coronavirus variants had an impact on its vehicle sales last month, Kia said, adding it will adjust the production schedules to minimize the impact of part shortages on its production, reports Yonhap news agency.

"Kia's vehicle production began to improve in September, and the company will adopt a three-shift system in its Indian plant and launch new models in the first quarter to boost sales," the statement said.

For all of 2021, sales rose 6.5 per cent to 2.78 million autos from 2.61 million units in 2020.