SEOUL, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Industrial output in South Korea rebounded in four months, indicating the recovery of the economy's growth momentum, a government report showed Thursday.
Production in all industries gained 1.2 percent in July from a month earlier, according to Statistics Korea. It marked the first increase since March.
Output in the mining and manufacturing industries rose 1.9 percent in the cited period, posting the fastest growth since January this year.
Helped by solid exports, production in automobile and electronic parts advanced 6.5 percent and 9.4 percent each.
Inventory among manufacturers grew 0.8 percent, and the inventory ratio rose 0.3 percentage points from a month earlier to 118.7 percent in July.
Manufacturers posted a factory utilization rate at 73.4 percent in July, up 2.2 percentage points from a month ago.
Production among services firms added 0.6 percent in July, marking the biggest expansion since February this year.
Retail sales, which reflect private consumption, picked up 0.2 percent, keeping an upward trend for two months in a row.
Demand for non-durable goods, such as cosmetics, and semi-durables like sports and entertainment items declined 0.6 percent and 0.2 percent respectively, but those for durable goods, including computers and smartphones, gained ground last month.
Facility investment reduced 5.1 percent in July from a month earlier, the biggest decline since February.
Machinery orders jumped 40.8 percent last month on demand from both public and private sectors.
Orders in the construction industry tumbled 30.8 percent in July from a year earlier as the government unveiled a set of measures to control speculative investment in the real estate market.
The cyclical factor of leading economic indicators, which reflect future industrial activity, rose 0.2 points last month, with the figure for coincident indicators making no change compared with the previous month.
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