国际英语新闻:S.Korea's industrial activity falters, with private consumption falling

SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Industry activity in South Korea faltered last month, with private consumption and facility investment falling, a government report showed Friday.

Production in all industries was unchanged in August compared with a month earlier, according to Statistics Korea. It was a slowdown from a 1 percent increase in the previous month.

Output in the mining and manufacturing industries gained 0.4 percent, and services industry production inched up 0.1 percent.

However, retail sales, which reflect consumption in the private sector, reduced 1 percent in August after rising 1.3 percent in June and 0.1 percent in July respectively.

Sales of durable goods, including home appliances, retreated 2.7 percent last month, while those for non-durables such as food and beverage dipped 0.5 percent.

Facility investment also shed 0.3 percent in August, after declining 5.1 percent in the prior month.

Construction completed, which indicates the already completed construction works, slipped 2 percent.

It marked the first time since September 2016 that all of the consumption, the facility investment and the completed construction declined simultaneously.