South Korea Oct factory output drops at fastest pace since May 2020
2022.11.29 18:43
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Workers labour on steel frames at a construction site in central Seoul, South Korea, August 29, 2016. Picture taken on August 29, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s factory output dropped in October by more than expected and at the fastest pace in nearly 2-1/2 years, government data showed on Wednesday, amid weakening demand due to a global economic slowdown, and aggressive rate hikes.
The country’s industrial output fell by a seasonally adjusted 3.5% in October from a month earlier, accelerating from a revised 1.9% decline in September, according to Statistics Korea.
It missed economists’ expectations of a 1.0% fall tipped in a Reuters survey and marked the fastest decline since May 2020.
By product, cars and machineries fell 7.3% and 7.9%, respectively, leading the losses.
Output for the services sector fell 0.8%, faster than 0.2% a month before and the fastest since Dec. 2020, while retail sales lost 0.2%.
The country’s factory output fell 1.1% on a yearly basis, also below 0.0% expected in the survey, snapping a 12-month streak of annual gains.
