By MINA

The US remains the world’s chief supplier of armaments, having sold $36.2 billion worth of weaponry this year and controlling over 50 percent of the market, the New York Times reports.

According to the newspaper, this increase in foreign arms sales, compared to the $26.7 billion revenues of 2013, was due to major contracts with South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Russia, which currently ranks second in terms of global arms sales, earned $10.2 billion from arms exports. Sweden sold $5.5 billion of arms, while France and China earned $4.4 billion and $2.2 billion respectively from sales of military equipment.

The world’s top weaponry buyer was South Korea, as the country has purchased $7.8 billion worth of military hardware (most of it supplied by the US).

At the same time, Iraq spent $7.3 billion on weapon purchases while Brazil obtained $6.5 billion worth of armaments in 2014.