Seoul [South Korea], November 16: Sales of Korean domestic market-oriented companies saw an on-year decline in the first half of the year for the first time since 2020 due to sluggish consumer spending, a market analysis showed Wednesday, Yonhap News Agency reported.
According to a report released by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) on the business performance of 814 non-financial corporations required to submit financial reports, the total sales of companies increased by 6.7 percent in the January-June period from last year.
Sales of 194 export-oriented companies rose by 13.6 percent, but those of 620 local market-oriented companies saw a 1.9 percent decrease.
For domestic-oriented firms, it marked the first on-year decline in four years since 2020, when sales fell 4.2 percent. The FKI also noted that the figure for export firms would stand at a 5.9 percent drop when excluding the performance of Samsung Electronics.
Corporate investment also saw a decline for the first time since 2020, falling 8.3 percent in the first half, raising concerns about a potential weakening of the broader economic growth engine.
Source: Emirates News Agency