South Korea factory output falls in January, investment drops

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s factory output fell in January, with a drop in corporate investment, government data showed on Tuesday.

Industrial output fell 2.3% over the month on a seasonally adjusted basis, after an increase of 3.9% in the previous month. That compared with a fall of 3.1% forecast in a Reuters poll.

Facility investment dropped 14.2%, dragged down by weaker imports of machinery for semiconductor production and transport equipments, according to Statistics Korea.

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Chris Reese)