S.Korea's industrial output jumps 16.7% last year Gov't report


SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's industrial output jumped 16.7
percent in 2010 from a year earlier, a government report showed
Monday.

The country's production in the mining and manufacturing industries
grew 16.7 percent last year from a year earlier, when the output
marked a 0.8 percent contraction due to the global financial crisis,
the Statistics Korea said.

Output in the mining and manufacturing industries soared 9.8 percent
in December from the same month a year earlier after rising a revised
10.7 percent in November. The output has grown since July 2009.

Production in December rose 2.8 percent from November, marking an
increase for the second straight month.

Brisk output in December is attributable to outperformance in the
semiconductor and machinery equipment industries, offsetting
underperformance in the non-metal and transportation equipment
sectors, the report said.

Production in the semiconductor and machinery equipment sectors
expanded 19.6 percent and 20.3 percent on-year respectively, while
output in the non-metal and transportation equipment retreated 3.8
percent and 2.9 percent respectively.

Local manufacturers operated at an average capacity of 81.8 percent
last year, up 7.2 percentage points from the previous year. The
average factory utilization rate stood at 82.5 percent in December,
1.6 percentage point higher than the previous month.

A leading index of economic indicators, which gauges business activity
eight to 15 months ahead, increased 2.3 percent in December from a
year earlier, down 0.2 percentage points from a 2. 5 percent gain in
November. It marks the 12th straight month of decline.

Production in the service industry rose 1.3 percent in December from a
month before and grew 2.1 percent from a year earlier respectively.
For the entire year of 2010, the service sector output gained 3.7
percent from 2009.