According to Reuters article published on April 28, 2023, South Korea's factory output jumped in March by the fastest rate in nearly three years and beat economists' expectations, official data showed on Friday.
The country's industrial output grew 5.1% in March from a month before, on a seasonally adjusted basis, after a 2.7% fall in February. It was the fastest monthly rise since June 2020.
It beat the median forecast of 0.5% growth tipped in a Reuters survey and even topped the economists' highest estimate, which was 4.5%.
Semiconductor and automobile production jumped by 35.1% and 6.5%, respectively, which together hold a 30% weighting in the overall industrial output index.
Output shrank 7.6% from the same month a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea, which was also milder than 8.0% in the previous month and 10.1% expected by economists.
The data came after first-quarter gross domestic product figures released earlier this week, which showed the South Korean economy barely averted a recession by posting slim growth.
