South Korea May factory output unexpectedly jumps, led by cars and chips

SOUTH Korea’s factory production unexpectedly jumped in May, led by cars and chips, official data showed on Friday (Jun 30), while retail sales also rose last month in an encouraging sign for a slowly recovering economy.

The industrial output index rose 3.2 per cent in May on a seasonally-adjusted monthly basis, the Statistics Korea data showed, compared with losses of 0.6 per cent in April and 0.8 per cent tipped in a Reuters survey.

The gain also topped the highest estimate of a 2.8 per cent rise in the poll.

By product, output of automobiles jumped 8.7 per cent and semiconductors rose 4.4 per cent over the month, whereas communication devices slumped 16.9 per cent.

The output fell 7.3 per cent on an annual basis, which was also milder than drops of 9.0 per cent in April and 8.5 per cent expected by economists.

The all-industry production index, which includes both the manufacturing and services sectors, rose 1.3 per cent in May on-month, recouping April’s 1.3 per cent loss.

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Retail sales rose 0.4 per cent in May, after dropping 2.6 per cent in April, which was the worst in five months. REUTERS