South Korea's industrial output growth slowed in October from a month earlier as the country's fall harvest holiday reduced the number of working days, a government report showed Wednesday.
Industrial production in Asia's fourth-largest economy increased 4.6 percent year-on-year in October, compared with a 16.3 percent surge in September, according to the report by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
Industrial output was up 2.6 percent from the previous month, lower than a 2.9 percent monthly gain in September, the report said.
The annual gain for September's industrial output was lower than the median 6 percent forecast in a Yonhap Infomax poll of economists from 17 financial institutions operating in the country.
Yonhap Infomax is the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency.
The slowdown in industrial output was attributed to the observance by Koreans of the annual Chuseok holiday during the first week of October.
"Despite the weaker-than-expected growth, business conditions seem to be on a rising track thanks to strong semiconductor and automobile output," Choi In-keun, director general of the NSO's economic data bureau, told reporters.
According to the report, production in most industries, except semiconductors and telecommunications-related goods and automobiles, fell during the reported month. Output in the oil refining industry fell 2.1 percent from a year earlier and 13.1 percent from September.
Factories operated at an average 81.6 percent of capacity last month, compared with 84.1 percent in September.
Shipments in October went up 2 percent annually and climbed 2.3 percent from September, while inventories increased 7.2 percent annually and 0.5 percent monthly.
Retail sales gained 4.5 percent in October from a year earlier and were up 1.5 percent from the previous month.
Corporate facility investments gained 6.1 percent annually in October, down from a 15.5 percent annual gain the previous month, the report showed.
The South Korean economy has been expected to grow 5 percent this year on the back of a recovery in private spending and strong exports.
But high oil prices and a firmer won versus the U.S. dollar are causing concerns that economic growth may fall sharply in the second half of the year.
South Korea's economy grew 4.6 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, slowing from a 5.3 percent rise the previous quarter, the smallest gain in a year, largely due to slowing private spending, according to the latest Bank of Korea report.
Seoul, Nov. 29 (Yonhap News)
S. Korean industrial output growth slows in October |
