SEOUL, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Industrial activity in South Korea rebounded last month thanks to recovering production, consumption and investment, a government report showed Tuesday.
Production in all industries gained 0.9 percent in September from a month earlier, according to Statistics Korea. It was a turnaround from a 0.1 percent fall in the previous month. In July, the industrial output grew 1 percent.
Output in the mining and manufacturing industries inched up 0.1 percent, keeping a growth momentum for three straight months. It was attributable to brisk production in the automobile and transport equipment sectors.
Except for the auto sector, the mining and manufacturing production reduced 0.4 percent.
Inventory among manufacturers fell 1.9 percent. The factory utilization rate for manufacturers stood at 71.8 percent in September, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous month.
The capacity ratio of manufacturers continued to slide from 73.1 percent in July to 72 percent in August and 71.8 percent last month.
Production among services companies advanced 1.3 percent, keeping an upward trend for the fourth straight month, thanks to strong activity in the wholesale and retail sector and the healthcare and social welfare industry.
The wholesale and retail industry saw a robust demand for gift sets ahead of the traditional 10-day Chuseok holiday that kicked off in late September.
Retail sales, which reflect private consumption, expanded 3.1 percent in September from a month earlier. It was the fastest increase since February due to demand for food and beverage, communications devices and clothing.
Facility investment jumped 5.5 percent last month, after falling 5.3 percent in July and 0.7 percent in August each.
Construction completed fell for two months in a row, with construction orders edging down last month.
The government unveiled a set of measures to control speculative investment in the real estate market, disclosing measures to discourage households from purchasing new home with borrowed money.
The cyclical factor for leading economic indicators shed 0.2 points last month, but the figure for coincident indicators inched up 0.1 point.
During the July-September quarter, the overall industrial output grew 1.3 percent from the three-month period.
Production in the mining and manufacturing sectors picked up 1.5 percent, while output among services companies gained 1.4 percent, the highest since the second quarter of 2010.
Retail sales rose 1.1 percent on a quarterly basis, but facility investment fell 0.3 percent. The capacity ratio among manufacturers added 0.8 percentage points to 72.3 percent.
Recent economic indicators under the new government of President Moon Jae-in, who took office in May, showed rosy pictures.
The country's real gross domestic product (GDP) advanced 1.4 percent in the third quarter from the previous quarter, more than doubling the 0.6 percent expansion tallied in the second quarter.
Helped by the strong expansion in the third quarter, this year's economic growth was forecast to surpass 3 percent, according to growth outlooks offered by both the finance ministry and the central bank.
It was mainly attributable to recovering exports, which account for about half of the export-driven economy.
The country's exports hit a record monthly high of 55.13 billion U.S. dollars in September, maintaining an upward momentum for the 11th consecutive month.
Fiscal spending was 2.3 percent higher in the third quarter than the prior quarter, posting the highest since the first quarter of 2012. It was attributable to the implementation of the government's supplementary budget worth about 10 billion dollars.
The Moon government placed its top priority on creating decent jobs, setting an income-based growth as its main policy goal. It was aimed to narrow the disparities in income between regular and irregular workers and to resolve the super-high unemployment rate of the younger generation.
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