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S.Korea output rising but no sign of recovery
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S.Korea output rising but no sign of recovery
Reuters - Saturday, May 30
* Industrial output, manufacturers' confidence rise
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* Inventories still dropping, showing confidence weak
* Drops in household income and exports cloud outlook
By Cheon Jong-woo and Seo Eun-kyung
SEOUL, May 29 - South Korean factory output rose in April for a fourth consecutive month, another sign that demand is picking up, but a fall in inventories suggested no confidence yet among manufacturers that an economic recovery is underway.
Reflecting similar themes, other data on Friday showed manufacturing sentiment had improved, but a fall in household income provided a reminder that domestic consumption remained weak.
The industrial output figures largely reflect the needs of the exports industry. Analysts said the signs of a pick up owed much to the won's <KRW=> sharp fall against most currencies and aggressive pump-priming by local authorities, but a full-blown recovery required an upturn in advanced economies.
"We expect the economy to show a U-shaped recovery. It's unlikely to show signs of deteriorating further... the pace of recovery would ge gradual," said June Park, an economist at Woori Investment & Securities.
"We expect the pace of recovery to accelerate either in the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of next year."
Industrial output rose a seasonally adjusted 2.6 percent in April from the previous month, the fourth monthly gain in a row although it was slower than a revised 4.9 percent gain in March, the National Statistical Office said.
For a graphic on industrial output growth, double-click: http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/059/KR_INDPRD0509.jpg
Inventories fell in April by 2.8 percent from March, the sixth monthly fall in a row, while goods leaving the factory gate, which include new production and inventory, rose 3.1 percent.
Analysts said the figures provided another sign that the worst of the economic slump, when inventories and production were falling in unison, was over.
However, a full-blown recovery, when factories boost inventories because they are confident of future demand while ramping up production, was still not in place.
Still, Nomura said South Korea's inventory adjustment may be near an end. It said the country's inventory-to-shipments ratio of 100.7 in April had dropped below the historical average of 103.
"This suggests that manufacturing adjustments may have been completed, much earlier than we had expected, implying less pressure for further production cuts," economist Young Sun Kwon wrote in a client note.
"However, there is still good reason to be cautious as a sustainable recovery depends on final demand, not inventory."
South Korean financial markets showed a muted reaction to the latest figures.
South Korea barely averted a recession by posting 0.1 percent economic growth in the first quarter after a 5.1 percent contraction in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Central bank data on Friday showed domestic manufacturing companies' sentiment towards business conditions in June rose to an eight-month high of 74 from 67 set in May. [ID:nSEO345032]
Sentiment indicators in the past two months have shown confidence returning to pre-crisis levels, although there are plenty of signs of the damage still being wrought by the deepest global downturn in decades.
Domestic demand remains in a slump with unemployment holding at its highest rate in more than three years.
Average income at South Korean households fell a real 3.0 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, the fastest annual loss since the agency started compiling the data in 2003, figures from the National Statistical Office showed on Friday.
Industrial output is still falling from a year earlier in line with falling exports.
Analysts expect data on Monday to show that South Korean exports in May fell 23.2 percent from a year earlier, sharper than a revised 19.6 percent drop in April and the seventh month of decline, a Reuters survey shows. [ID:nSEO273169]
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