SEOUL, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Industrial production in South Korea rose for three straight months through January on the back of brisk exports of semiconductors that led the country's export recovery, a government report showed on Thursday.
Production in overall industries gained 1.0 percent in January from the previous month, according to Statistics Korea. It marked the third consecutive month of expansion since November last year when the industrial output grew 1.4 percent.
Production in the mining and manufacturing industries advanced 3.3 percent thanks to brisk industrial activity in the chip-making sector. It was the fastest increase since May last year.
Semiconductor exports reached a new record monthly high of 6.4 billion U.S. dollars in February on demand for chips used for smartphones.
Helped by the robust chip shipments, South Korea's exports jumped 20.2 percent in February from a year earlier. In January, the exports posted a double-digit expansion thanks to solid demand for semiconductors.
Manufacturers posted a factory utilization rate of 74.3 percent on average in January, up 1.7 percentage points from the previous month.
Production in services industry rose 0.5 percent in January compared with the prior month.
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