Last month, production, consumption, and investment in all industries increased compared to the previous month. The fact that all industrial activity indicators recorded negative (-) figures in January is being evaluated as a base effect.
According to the industrial activity trend for February 2025 released on the 31st by the Statistics Korea, last month’s total industrial production (seasonally adjusted) increased by 0.6%, with both manufacturing (1.0%) and the service industry (0.5%) increasing.
Although production in manufacturing saw a 4.6% decrease in primary metals compared to the previous month, electronic components and electrical equipment increased by 9.1% and 6.0%, respectively.
In comparison to the same month last year, production of automobiles increased by 14.6% and semiconductors by 11.6%, with a total increase of 7.0%.
In the service industry, production in wholesale and retail and finance and insurance increased by 6.5% and 2.3%, respectively, resulting in a 0.5% increase compared to the previous month. However, the accommodation and food services sector saw a decrease of 3.0%, the largest drop since a decline of 8.1% in February 2022.
In the service industry, when compared to the same month last year, production in the accommodation and food services institutional sector decreased by 3.8%, while finance and insurance (2.6%) and transportation and warehousing (4.9%) sectors saw increases.
Retail sales decreased in non-durable goods such as food and beverages (-2.5%) and semi-durable goods such as shoes and bags (-1.7%), but increased in durable goods such as communication devices and computers (13.2%), resulting in a 1.5% increase compared to the previous month.
Compared to the same month last year, sales of durable goods such as passenger cars increased by 13.7%, while sales of non-durable goods (-7.5%) and semi-durable goods (-6.8%) decreased, resulting in a total decrease of 2.3%.
In particular, automobile sales in February increased by 13.5% compared to the previous month due to the impact of subsidies, marking the largest increase since March 2020 (48.6%).
Investment in facilities increased by 18.7% compared to the previous month, with increases in machinery for semiconductor manufacturing (23.3%) and transportation equipment (7.4%).
Construction output recorded a 1.5% increase compared to the previous month, despite a 2.2% decline in construction performance in building, as civil engineering saw an increase of 13.1%. This marks the first increase in construction production in seven months.
The leading index for predicting future economic conditions saw a decrease in construction orders and economic sentiment index, but an increase in inventory cycle indicators and domestic export index for machinery, rising by 0.1 point compared to the previous month.
Since last November, the industrial activity trend indicators have been alternating between triple declines and increases. Just this year, there was a triple decline in January and a triple increase in February. Lee Du-won, an economic trend statistics director at Statistics Korea, noted that "the number of working days due to the holiday effect affects the indices at the end and beginning of the year."