South Korea Manufacturing Broadly Unchanged

2025-03-04 00:42 By Jam Kaimo Samonte 1 min. read

South Korea's Manufacturing PMI dropped to 49.9 in February 2025, down from 50.3 in January, indicating broadly stable manufacturing conditions after a slight improvement earlier in the year.

Firms reported marginal growth in both output and new orders, while purchasing activity remained largely unchanged.

Companies continued to be cautious about holding excess inventory.

Business confidence remained subdued, and the labor market saw the steepest decline in employment since July 2022.

On the inflation front, input costs continued to rise significantly, prompting companies to increase their selling prices at the fastest rate in 15 months.

Usamah Bhatti, Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, commented, “While manufacturing output and sales showed modest gains, the pace of growth remained slow due to persistent soft domestic demand.”



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