SEJONG: South Korea’s industrial output rebounded in February to snap a three-month losing streak on a rise in the chip and chemicals sectors, a government report showed Thursday. Production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries gained 2.4 percent last month from a year earlier, according to the report by Statistics Korea.
Compared with a month earlier, industrial output also rose 3.3 percent, the highest on-month gain since September 2009. The semiconductor sector’s output led the increase, soaring 33.7 percent last month from a year earlier, on the back of rising demand for mobile memory chips.
“South Korean chipmakers increased production to provide mobile chips for newly released smartphones like the Galaxy S7 and the iPhone SE,” said Choi Jung-su, director of the short-term industrial statistics division. “But it’s kind of a one-off factor, so we may see a slowdown next month.” The chemicals and petroleum industries also saw their output climb 6.3 percent and 7.7 percent on-year, respectively.
However, production of communications equipment and electronics components fell 21.4 percent and 12.2 percent, respectively, to offset the brisk shipments in the chip and chemicals industries, said the statistics agency.
February’s average plant utilization in the manufacturing sector reached 73.5 percent, up 1.2 percent from a month earlier. Production in the service sector expanded 3.9 percent from a year earlier and improved 0.3 percent on-month, a turnaround from a 1.3 percent fall, the report showed. For all industries, output moved up 2.4 percent from the same month in 2015 and climbed 0.8 percent from a month earlier.
Domestic consumption rose 3.1 percent on-year in February, decelerating from a 4.6 percent gain in January, amid the five-day Lunar New Year’s holiday, which fell on Feb. 6-10. The South Korean government extended an excise tax cut program on passenger cars until June in a bid to repeat the brisk performance in October and November last year, when the consumption figures soared 8.6 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively.
