In the aftermath of the Corona 19 crisis, all industrial production last year recorded negative for the first time since statistics were written. Due to the reinforcement of quarantine measures such as banning meetings with more than 5 people, the production of service industries such as lodging, food and beverage, arts, sports, and leisure businesses decreased significantly.
According to the’December 2020 and Annual Industrial Activity Trends’ released by the National Statistical Office on the 29th, last year’s total industrial production declined 0.8% from 2019. This is the first time since the year 2000 when statistics began to be collected.
The decrease in service industry production was largely due to measures such as social distancing. Last year, production in the service industry declined 2.0% compared to the previous year. There was a significant decline in face-to-face industries such as accommodation and restaurants (-18.5%), transportation and warehouse (-14.2%), and arts, sports and leisure (-33.0%).
In particular, last month’s lodging and restaurant production decreased by 27.3% compared to the previous month. The decline was greater than the -18% recorded in March-April, the first spread of Corona 19. It is analyzed as the impact of strengthened quarantine measures, such as banning meetings with more than 5 people at the end of last year. Among the service industries, real estate (5.6%) and finance/insurance (14.0%) saw an increase in production. It is the result of the real estate market and stock market boom. However, the small increase did not prevent the overall service industry from decreasing production.
It is an evaluation that the manufacturing industry, which is considered the backbone of the Korean economy, has made good progress. Manufacturing production increased 0.5% from the previous year. Semiconductor (23.9%) and mechanical equipment (5.5%) production increased, offsetting the sluggish production of automobiles (-10.2%).
Retail sales, showing consumption trends, declined 0.2%. The decline was the largest since 2003 (-3.1%), when the card crisis broke out. The consumption of durable goods such as passenger cars increased 10.9%, but sales of semi-durable goods such as clothing (-12.2%) and non-durable goods such as cosmetics (-0.4%) decreased. Facility investment increased by 6.0%.
Industrial production declined last year, but a recovery was detected last month. This is because production, consumption, and investment’triple increase’ despite the third spread of Corona 19 in just one month in December. Last month, production of all industries increased by 0.5% compared to the previous month, and consumption increased by 0.2%. Facility investment increased by 0.9%.
Reporter Kang Jin-kyu [email protected]
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