Seoul, March 9 South Korea's manufacturing production fell more than 4 percent from a year earlier in January, marking the sharpest drop in 18 months, data showed on Sunday.
The Manufacturing Production Index stood at 103.7 points in January, down 4.2 percent from a year ago, according to the data from Statistics Korea.
It marked the steepest rate of on-year decrease since July 2023, when the index dropped 6.6 percent, reports Yonhap news agency.
The government said the sluggish manufacturing production can be largely attributed to the reduced number of business days in January due to the extended Lunar New Year holiday, but the report comes amid growing concerns over a prolonged slowdown.
In detail, shipments of manufacturing products declined 7.4 percent on-year in January, posting the biggest drop in two years.
Domestic shipping sank 11.8 percent, while overseas shipping edged down 1.2 percent.
The South Korean manufacturing industry's purchasing managers' index (PMI) also dropped to 49.9 points in February from 50.3 the previous month, according to leading financial researcher S&P Global.
A PMI reading below 50 represents contraction in the sector, while a reading above 50 represents expansion.
The Federation of Korean Industries has recently said the country's manufacturing industry is facing an "unprecedented crisis," calling on the government to provide support measures to bolster the competitiveness of the sector.
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned Taiwan and South Korea, as he argued that the United States lost semiconductor business to foreign countries.
Trump also renewed his criticism of the CHIPS and Science Act, calling it a "tremendous waste of money." The act was signed by his predecessor Joe Biden in 2022 to boost domestic chip manufacturing through incentives.
"We gradually lost the chip business, and now it's almost exclusively in Taiwan. They stole it from us. They took it from us," he said, underscoring that the business was once dominated by an American entrepreneur -- the late Andrew Grove, former CEO of Intel Corp.
He added, "We had the chip business, and now it's all in Taiwan, almost exclusive ... a little in South Korea, but mostly in Taiwan."
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