Statistics Korea, Industrial Activity Trends
Last month, industrial production turned positive after a month, but consumption and investment indicators both declined.
According to the "April 2024 Industrial Activity Trends" released by Statistics Korea on the 31st, total industrial production last month increased by 1.1% compared to the previous month. The growth trend that had continued for four consecutive months since November last year was interrupted in March (-2.3%) but turned positive again after one month.
Looking at industrial production by sector, production increased compared to the previous month in mining and manufacturing, including manufacturing (2.2%), and services (0.3%). Among mining and manufacturing, semiconductor production decreased (-4.4%), but production increased in automobiles (8.1%) and chemical products (6.4%).
Manufacturing inventory increased by 0.9% compared to the previous month, and the average operating rate rose by 2.1 percentage points to 73.5%.
Consumption indicators turned negative after a month. Retail sales, which show consumption trends, decreased by 1.2% compared to the previous month. Sales increased in non-durables such as cosmetics (0.4%) and semi-durables such as clothing (0.5%), but sales decreased in durables such as passenger cars (-5.8%).
Facility investment increased in transportation equipment such as automobiles (0.3%), but investment decreased in machinery such as special industrial machinery (-0.4%), resulting in a 0.2% decrease compared to the previous month. Construction performance increased by 5.0% compared to the previous month, with increases in both building construction (6.1%) and civil engineering (1.7%).
Domestic machinery orders increased in the private sector (3.4%) but decreased in the public sector (-67.1%), and construction orders (current) increased in both building construction such as housing (34.4%) and civil engineering such as machinery installation (63.8%).
The coincident index of economic indicators, which shows the current economy, fell by 0.2 points from the previous month to 99.4. The leading index of economic indicators, which predicts future economic conditions, rose by 0.1 points from the previous month to 100.5.
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