Gwangju's Real Economy Improves in January... Manufacturing Production and Exports on the Rise

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] In the Gwangju region, manufacturing production, exports, and retail sales all improved, but the rate of increase somewhat slowed down.

According to the 'Real Economy Trends' released on the 10th by the Bank of Korea Gwangju-Jeonnam Headquarters, manufacturing production in January increased by 10.2% compared to the same month last year. By item, production rose mainly in automobiles (19.4%) and beverages (138.7%), but the growth rate narrowed compared to the previous month (21.5%).

Manufacturing shipments increased by 11.6%, with notable performance in automobiles (17.5%) and other machinery and equipment (8.2%).

Manufacturing inventory increased by 23.3%, with electrical equipment (51.3%) and automobiles (44.4%) rising.

Exports increased by 12.3%, led by electronics and electrical equipment (21.6%) and machinery (4.8%), while imports rose by 14.2%, centered on electronics and electrical equipment (9.2%).

Sales at large retail stores increased by 10.9%. Among these, department store sales continued to rise from 27.2% in December last year to 22.3% in January this year, and large discount stores saw a reduction in the decline rate from -3.6% to -1.4% over the same period.

The consumer sentiment index for February was 99.5, down 1.8 points from 101.3 in the previous month.

The building permit area, which provides insight into the scale of construction investment, increased by 62.5%, although the building start area decreased by 28.4%.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.