Foreign countries' push to restrict imports of South Korean products came to a halt in October in a positive sign for the export-focused economy, a trade body said Friday.

No South Korean products were subjected to fresh import regulations in the form of anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties, safeguards or a combination of them last month, according to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA).

October marks the third month this year, in addition to January and July, that saw no import restrictions on South Korean goods shipped overseas. There were two cases of such barriers in September, one in August, eight in June, five in May, five in April, two in March and one in February.

Yet it is still premature to say that no import restrictions for October indicates a change in the growing protectionism across the globe, KITA said.

"Mid- and long-term developments should be watched to assess any trend in import restrictions," a KITA official said. "It's too early to judge if there is any change in the basic trend of toughening protectionism."

Meanwhile, South Korea was subject to 190 cases of import restrictions or related investigations by foreign authorities as of Nov. 10, according to KITA.

Anti-dumping investigations and regulations came to 147 cases, or 77 percent of the total, with 36 safeguards and seven cases where the punitive measures were combined.

The United States and India had the most import restrictions on South Korean products in place with 31 each, followed by China and Turkey with 14 each. Steel and metal products were hit the hardest with 86 cases, and there were 56 import restrictions on chemicals.

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