South Korea December factory activity weakens on demand slump, trucker strike
Reuters
Published Jan 01, 2023 07:48PM ET
Updated Jan 01, 2023 09:10PM ET
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's factory activity shrank for a sixth consecutive month in December, a business survey showed on Monday, as the global economic downturn and a local truckers' strike led to the worst slump in demand in 2-1/2 years.
The S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) purchasing managers' index (PMI) for South Korea manufacturers fell to a seasonally-adjusted 48.2 last month from 49.0 in November.
It fell again after two months of slight improvements from a more than two-year low of 47.3 reached in September, but remained below the 50-mark that separates expansion from contraction for the sixth month in a row.
Sub-indexes showed output contracted for an eighth straight month, new orders declined for a sixth month, and new export orders shrank for a 10th month.
In particular, new orders fell at the fastest pace since June 2020, both for overall orders and exports, while input purchases and backlogs of work also decreased at the fastest pace in about 2-1/2 years.
Meanwhile, suppliers' delivery times were their worst since June, as South Korean truckers went on a strike for the second time in 2022.
"The December PMI data provided further evidence that South Korean manufacturing firms have continued to struggle in the face of the current global economic downturn," said Laura Denman, economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
"Low levels of client demand, on both a domestic and international scale, were central to the latest deterioration."
On the inflation front, input prices rose at the slowest pace since January 2021, while the pace of output price increases significantly eased to the weakest in their 27-month rising streak.
Manufacturers were barely optimistic about the future output over the coming year, with the level of optimism just above the neutral threshold and at the lowest since July 2020.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.