Shipments in manufacturing sector up 16 pct in 2022 on high oil prices

▲ This image depicts the manufacturing industry. (Yonhap)

manufacturing industry-tally

Shipments in manufacturing sector up 16 pct in 2022 on high oil prices

SEOUL, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- Shipments in South Korea's manufacturing and mining industry jumped 15.6 percent in 2022 on-year due mainly to the surge in global oil prices and upbeat demand for vehicles, data showed Tuesday.

Combined shipments by manufacturers and mining companies with more than 10 employees came to 2,044 trillion won (US$1.55 trillion) last year, up 275.2 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

Excluding the mining sector, the manufacturing industry also logged a 15.6 percent on-year rise in the shipments to come to 2,040.6 trillion won.

The added value of the country's manufacturing and mining sector climbed 12.9 percent on-year to 726.5 trillion won in 2022.

Added value refers to the difference between a product's selling price and the input used to make it.

Last year's growth was led by the oil refining field, as its shipments surged 61.2 percent to come to 199.4 trillion won amid high global oil prices over the Russia-Ukraine war, the agency said.

The added value of the industry soared 169.4 percent to come to 55 trillion won.

Shipments of the auto industry also rose 16.1 percent to reach 248.6 trillion won last year, and its added value went up 16.2 percent to 71.8 trillion won.

The auto industry saw rising demand for electric vehicles and other expensive models last year, and its production rose thanks to the smooth supply of auto chips, the agency said.

As of end-2022, South Korea had 73,595 mining and manufacturing companies, which employed 2.99 million people combined, the data showed.

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