North Korean imports of vehicles from neighboring China jumped sharply in August this year, bucking a falling trend which began in 2014, data from Chinese customs shows.

August figures compiled by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) climbed to a record $29 million spent on importing vehicles made in China, nearly double the total spent in the same month in 2015.

While damaging floods in the country’s northeast may have affected imports of construction-related vehicles, trucks to carry goods and passenger cars showed the strongest gains.

North Korean media coverage of flood recovery work shows