Overview

• Industrial production rose 0.3% from June, the second straight monthly increase led by mining and manufacturing.
• Retail sales climbed 2.5% month-on-month, the fastest pace since February 2023, with durable goods up 5.4%, semidurable up 2.7% and nondurable up 1.1%.
• Facility investment jumped 7.9% after four months of declines, supported by an 18.1% rise in transportation equipment and a 3.7% gain in machinery.
• Electronic components output surged 20.9% and machinery rose 6.5%, while automobile production fell 7.3% and semiconductor output slipped 3.6%; officials cited vacations, partial carmaker strikes and U.S.-based EV production as drags on autos.
• It was the first time since February that production, consumption and investment all increased in the same month, according to Statistics Korea.