SEOUL - South Korea's rare earth imports from China surged last month due to a fall in import prices, customs data showed Tuesday.

South Korea purchased a total of 126 tons of rare earth material from China in June, up 36.3 percent from a month earlier, according to the Korea Customs Service (KCS).

In terms of value, rare earth import from China edged down 0.4 percent on-month to $3.8 million in June, indicating that falling import prices contributed mainly to the June surge in import volume.

Rare earth materials, including scandium and yttrium, are key components for modern-day technologies such as hybrid electric vehicles, liquid crystal display (LCD) and other high-tech products.

Rare earth imports from Japan declined 17.3 percent on-month to 57 tons last month, while import from Germany jumped 80.9 percent to 12 tons over the same period.

Meanwhile, imports of magnesium from China soared 73.3 percent on-month to 903 tons in June, but tungsten imports declined 24.8 percent to 36 tons. Cobalt imports from China expanded 39.2 percent to 436 tons over the cited period.