Industrial output falls 0.3% on weak chip production in Sept.: data

A port in Busan/ Yonhap Korea's industrial output fell from a month earlier in September on dwindling production in the semiconductor and other manufacturing sectors, data showed Thursday. Retail sales, a gauge of private spending, also went down amid signs of weaker economic growth, while facility investment rebounded on-month, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. Industrial production fell 0.

3 percent on-month, following a 1.2 percent increase in August. In on-year terms, industrial output went down 1.



1 percent in September. The decline came as production in the overall mining and manufacturing sector lost 0.2 percent, as chip production dropped 2.

6 percent. The output in the service sector slid 0.7 percent, ending a three-month winning run.

Retail sales, a gauge of private spending, shed 0.4 percent from a month before in September, following 2 percent growth the previous month. On an on-year basis, retail sales sank 2.

4 percent, the seventh straight monthly fall. Facility investment surged 8.4 percent on-month, rebounding from August's 5.

1 percent decline, while construction investment inched down 0.1 percent in September, the data showed. (Yonhap).