Toy exports in South China's Guangdong province, a key global toy production base, climbed to a record monthly high of the year in September, local customs said Friday.

The toy shipments stood at $780 million, a 16.5 percent increase from August.

The figure, however, represented a drop of 7.1 percent from the same month last year, compared with a 10.1 percent decline in August.

Exports have been climbing on a month-on-month basis since July when the traditional peak season for toy sales started.

The toy exports for the January-September period valued $3.99 billion, a decline of 10.9 percent from a year earlier.

The shipments to the United States in the nine months stood at $1.57 billion dollars, down 16.1 percent from a year earlier. Exports to the European Union fell 9.8 percent to $1.01 billion.

The shipments to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations surged 77.1 percent to $180 million in the period.

The toy producers will have a bumpy road to recovery considering higher demands on safety and environment standards in some export destinations, the Guangzhou Customs said in a statement.

The customs urged local toy makers to produce safer products and boost innovation and new product development to better cushion future crisis.