Korean factory output rose 6.4 percent in a single month on cars and memory chips, and construction is still smaller than it was a year ago
Production up, building down. The June figures out of Seoul on Friday split fairly cleanly along that line.
The release comes from the body whose English name on its own site is the Ministry of Data and Statistics, and Statistics Korea's old web address now redirects there. Its June industrial activity report puts all-industry production 2.3 percent above May and 4.2 percent above June 2025.
Mining and manufacturing did the work. That component rose 6.4 percent on the month, having fallen 2.9 percent in May and 0.8 percent in April, and it stood 5.8 percent above June 2025. Two industries carried it. Car production rose 15.4 percent on the month, which the release attributes to finished vehicles and names hybrid and recreational passenger cars, and semiconductor production rose 4.5 percent, named as DRAM and flash memory. Electronic components went the other way, down 10.4 percent. On the year, machinery and equipment rose 14.4 percent and cars 12.6 percent, while petroleum refining fell 10.4 percent.
Average manufacturing capacity utilisation was 74.9 percent, up 4.0 points on May. Manufacturing inventories were 0.1 percent higher on the month and 3.5 percent higher on the year.
Services, spending and investment
Services production rose 0.7 percent on the month and 5.3 percent on the year. Finance and insurance rose 2.8 percent on the month and 9.2 percent on the year, transport and warehousing rose 2.0 percent on the month, and information and communication fell 3.0 percent. Professional, scientific and technical services were 13.7 percent above June 2025.
Retail sales rose 2.7 percent on the month. Durables led at 12.6 percent, which the release attributes to passenger cars and to telecommunications equipment and computers, while semi-durables such as clothing fell 1.7 percent. Split by channel and measured against a year earlier, large discount stores fell 13.9 percent, non-store retail rose 9.2 percent and specialist stores rose 3.8 percent.
Investment in plant and equipment rose 5.8 percent on the month and 21.7 percent on the year, with machinery up 22.2 percent on the year on the back of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and transport equipment up 20.5 percent. Domestic machinery orders were 52.1 percent above June 2025.
The line that is still negative
Construction work completed rose 4.1 percent on the month, on buildings rather than civil engineering, and remains 4.0 percent below June 2025. Building work is 2.1 percent down on the year and civil engineering 9.0 percent down.
Both composite business cycle measures improved. The coincident index cyclical component rose 0.5 points on the month and the leading index cyclical component rose 0.9 points.
