Manufacturers’ domestic supply down for 5th consecutive quarter in Q3

By Kim Han-joo

SEOUL, Nov. 8 (Yonhap) — Manufacturers’ domestic supply in South Korea inched down from a year earlier in the third quarter, marking a decline for the fifth consecutive quarter amid weak demand, data showed Friday.

The preliminary manufacturing domestic supply index came to 103.1 in the July-September period, down 0.4 percent from the same period last year, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

The quarterly figure has been on a steady decline since the third quarter of last year.

It marks the longest streak of on-year declines since 2010, when the agency began compiling the relevant data.

While the index has been on the decline, the rate of decrease has gradually slowed. The index had dropped 2.9 percent on-year in the third quarter of 2023, followed by a 2.8 percent decline the following quarter, 2.4 percent in the first quarter of 2024 and 2.3 percent in the second quarter.

The index, which measures both locally produced goods and imports, serves as a major indicator of domestic demand trends.