Industrial production in December was manufacturing ↑, service ↓… Retail sales rebound after 3 months
Industrial production last year, hit by a novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), has stepped back for the first time since the statistics were compiled.
However, in December, production, consumption, and investment all showed a’triple increase’ that recorded positive (+).
◇ Last year’s mining industry output 0.4%↑ service industry 2.0%↓
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 (raw index, excluding agriculture, forestry and fisheries) decreased 0.8% from the previous year.
It declined for the first time since 2000, when statistics were started.
The manufacturing industry improved, while the service industry was sluggish.
Manufacturing production increased by 0.5%.
Semiconductor (23.9%) led and mechanical equipment (5.5%).
On the other hand, cars (-10.2%) declined.
Mining industry production, including manufacturing, turned to an increase of 0.4%.
However, production in the service sector declined by 2.0%.
Accommodations and restaurants (-18.5%), transportation and warehouses (-14.2%), and arts, sports and leisure (-33.0%) were hit directly by social distancing measures.
On the contrary, the real estate (5.6%) and finance/insurance (14.0%) sectors increased on the rise of the real estate market and the stock market.
Retail sales, showing consumption trends, declined 0.2%.
This is the largest decline since 2003 (-3.1%) when the card crisis broke out.
This is a result of a decrease in sales of semi-durable goods such as clothing (-12.2%) and non-durable goods (-0.4%) such as cosmetics, although durable goods such as passenger cars (10.9%) increased.
Facility investment increased by 6.0%.
“The production of the face-to-face service industry has greatly decreased due to the impact of Corona 19,” said Kim Bo-kyung, head of the Industry Trend Division at Statistics Korea.
◇ In December last year, production 0.5% consumption 0.2% investment 0.9%’triple increase’
However, in December, production, consumption, and investment recorded a’triple increase’.
All industrial production increased by 0.5%.
However, the growth rate was slower than in November (0.8%).
Compared to November, the manufacturing industry improved, but the service industry worsened again in the aftermath of the strengthened distance at the end of the year.
Manufacturing production increased by 3.7%, while mining production increased by 3.7%.
The mining industry production in November was 0.3%.
As with the annual indicator, semiconductors (11.6%) and mechanical equipment (10.0%) increased, while automobiles (-8.6%) decreased.
Service production declined 1.1%.
It is a negative (-) conversion in 4 months since August (-1.0%).
It decreased significantly in accommodation and restaurants (-27.3%).
Transportation and warehouse (-3.2%) and arts, sports and leisure (-15.8%) were also sluggish.
Consumption also rebounded slightly.
Retail sales increased 0.2%, stopping the decline, which lasted two consecutive months in October (-1.0%) and November (-0.9%).
Semi-durable goods such as clothes (-6.7%) and durable goods such as passenger cars (-1.7%) decreased, but sales of non-durable goods such as food and beverages increased (3.9%).
Facility investment increased by 0.9%.
The cyclical fluctuation of the economic coincidence index, which rose for six consecutive months, remained flat, while the cyclical fluctuation of the leading economic index rose 0.5 points for seven consecutive months.
It is the longest consecutive increase since it rose for 9 consecutive months from November 2016 to July 2017.
Manager Kim said, “After the re-proliferation of Corona 19 and social distancing, the service industry has declined, but as the semiconductor economy showed good performance, the mining industry increased relatively largely, resulting in an increase in all industrial production.” “The base effect of the company and the increase in consumption of food and beverages have had an impact,” he said.
/yunhap news