SEOUL: The Republic of Korea’s industrial output fell for the second consecutive month in June, but retail sales and facility investment rebounded, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea on Wednesday.

Yonhap News Agency reported that industrial output inched down 0.1 percent on-month in June, following a 0.8 percent fall a month earlier.

The decline came as the production from the construction sector shed 0.3 percent and that in the public administration field tumbled 5.1 percent in June.

But the output in the chip sector jumped 8.1 percent on strong demand for semiconductors, offsetting a marked fall in the production of the pharmaceutical field, resulting in a 0.5 percent rise in the overall production in the manufacturing and mining sector.

Retail sales, a gauge of private spending, advanced 1 percent on-month as demand for automobiles and other durable goods climbed 5.2 percent.

It marked the first on-month growth since March.

Sales of semidurable goods, such as clothes, inched up 0.8 percen
t, while those of nondurable goods, such as food, lost 0.9 percent, the data showed.

In an on-year term, however, retail sales fell 3.6 percent last month amid lingering concerns about weak domestic demand due to high inflation and high interest rates.

Source: Emirates News Agency