The Republic of Korea’s industrial output increased for the first time in four months in August on the rising production in the auto and semiconductor sectors, data showed Monday.

Yonhap News Agency quoted Statistics Korea as saying that retail sales, a gauge of private spending, also rose by the most in 18 months in August, but facility investment ended two months of on-month growth and fell markedly.

Industrial output advanced 1.2 percent on-month in August, the first increase since April.

The figure fell 0.8 percent in May from April’s 1.4 percent increase and inched down 0.1 percent in June before falling 0.6 percent in July.

August’s growth came as the production in the overall mining and manufacturing sector rose 4.1 percent, the largest gain since August 2023, as chip production advanced 6 percent and the output of automobiles jumped 22.7 percent.

The output in the service sector went up 0.2 percent, the third consecutive monthly rise.

Source: Emirates News Agency