S. Korea's industrial output rises in November, but consumption drops

South Korea's industrial output rose 0.7 percent on-month November due to improving exports, but consumption plunged for the second straight month amid a coronavirus resurgence.

However, the industrial output in November was a 0.6 percent on-year drop.

The mining, manufacturing, gas, and electricity industries gained a 0.3 percent production increase on-month in November, while the chips and display panels production also improved.

But retail sales dropped 0.9 percent from a month earlier, compared with a 1 percent on-month decline in October, the data showed. From a year earlier, they fell 1.5 percent, marking the second straight month of an on-year decline.

Sales of semidurable goods, such as clothes, plummeted 6.9 percent, while those of durable goods, such as cars, dipped 0.9 percent.

Meanwhile, sales of nondurable goods and food jumped 1.3 percent on-month.

Statistics Korea said the face-to-face service and retail sales sector may shrink in December due to increasing spiking COVID-19 cases.

On Dec. 8, the country tightened its virus curbs to Level 2.5 in the Seoul metropolitan area, where half of its 51.6 million population lived. It was Level 2 for the rest of the country.