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SEOUL, Aug. 31 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s industrial output, retail sales, and facility investment all decreased in July, as worries of an economic slowdown mounted, according to data from Statistics Korea on Thursday.
Industry output dropped 0.7 percent from the previous month, with the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries declining 2 percent due to a decrease in electronic components production of 11.2 percent. The production of apparel rose 28.5 percent.
The service output increased 0.4 percent in July, driven by the information and communication segment. The output from the retail and wholesale sector, however, decreased 1.2 percent.
Retail sales, a measure of private consumption, decreased 3.2 percent, mainly due to a decrease in demand for durable goods such as automobiles, which fell 5.1 percent. Demand for semidurable goods, including clothing, decreased 3.6 percent.
Facility investment decreased 8.9 percent from the month before, primarily due to sluggish performance in the transportation equipment and machinery segments.
This Aug. 1, 2023, file photo shows containers stacked at a port in the southeastern city of Busan. (Yonhap)
colin@yna.co.kr
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