In July 2026, total industrial production remained unchanged, retail sales declined and facility investment increased.

 

Output declined in the services sector (-1.3% m-o-m, +3.5% y-o-y) and construction (-1.1%, -3.2%), while output in the industrial sector increased (+0.2%, +3.6%), leaving overall industrial production unchanged (0.0%, +3.1%).

 

Retail sales decreased (-2.4% m-o-m, -0.8% y-o-y), and facility investment moved up (+7.5%, +24.9%).

 

Exports in August 2026 grew by 68.7 percent year-on-year, supported by strong exports of semiconductors, computers, and cosmetics. Average daily exports rose by 72.5 percent in August compared to the same month of last year.

 

The consumer sentiment index (CSI) fell by 2.3 points month-on-month to 104.5 in August. The composite business sentiment index (CBSI) went up by 1.1 points to 99.6 and the CBSI outlook for September increased by 3.1 points to 99.6.

 

The cyclical indicator of the coincident composite index for July rose by 0.8 points and the cyclical indicator of the leading composite index increased by 0.4 points.

 

In August, employment growth accelerated, while consumer price growth picked up from the previous month.

 

The number of employed persons grew by 184,000 year-on-year, with the unemployment rate remaining unchanged from a year earlier at 2.0%.

 

The consumer price index (CPI) climbed by 3.1 percent year-on-year (2.8% in July → 3.1% in August), with the index excluding food and energy rising by 3.4 percent, the index excluding agricultural products and petroleum products by 3.1 percent, and the CPI for living necessities by 3.2 percent.

 

In August, stock prices moved up, Korean Treasury Bond yields rose, and the Korean won strengthened against the U.S. dollar.

 

In July, both housing prices (+0.35% m-o-m) and Jeonse[1] prices (+0.38% m-o-m) continued to climb.

The Korean economy continues to show a solid recovery, supported by strong export growth and improving domestic demand, including consumption.

 

However, uncertainties have increased somewhat amid the conflict in the Middle East, with pressures on livelihoods persisting due to high oil prices and difficult employment conditions for vulnerable groups and sectors.

 

The global economy continues to grow at a moderate pace, but uncertainties surrounding the conflict in the Middle East and U.S. tariff measures persist.

 

The government will closely manage the supply and demand of key items to minimize the impact of the Middle East conflict and ensure the smooth implementation of key measures under the Chuseok Livelihood Stabilization Plan, including efforts to stabilize prices of major holiday items. It will also swiftly implement the Economic Growth Strategy for the Second Half of 2026, including a post-conflict strategy, measures to boost potential growth and address economic polarization.

 

Key Statistics

Employment

	2025						2026
	Annual	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug
Number of employed  (million)	28.77	28.97	29.15	29.04	29.05	28.21	27.99	28.41	28.79	28.96	29.16	29.15	29.14	29.15
Employment rate  (%)	62.9	63.3	63.7	63.4	63.4	61.5	61.0	61.8	62.7	63.0	63.3	63.4	63.3	63.3
(Seasonally adjusted)	62.9	62.8	63.1	62.9	62.9	62.7	62.8	63.0	63.0	62.7	62.5	62.6	62.7	62.7

Consumer Price Index

                                                                                         (%)

 

Retail Sales

(Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2024					2025					2026
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q1	Q2¹			Jul¹
													May	Jun¹
Retail sales	-1.9	-1.2	-0.7	0.4	-0.6	0.3	0.6	-0.6	1.2	0.6	2.4	-1.8	-0.1	2.7	-2.4
(y-o-y)	-	-1.5	-3.0	-1.4	-1.8	-	-0.8	-0.1	1.6	0.9	3.2	2.2	1.4	3.9	-0.8

1. Preliminary

Facility Investment Index

(Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2024					2025					2026
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q1	Q2¹			Jul¹
													May	Jun¹
Facility investment index	3.0	-3.0	0.4	6.0	1.8	1.2	-2.2	0.3	0.6	-3.8	13.0	3.7	-0.1	6.9	7.5
(y-o-y)	-	-1.5	-3.4	11.4	5.6	-	5.4	5.5	1.2	-6.2	9.8	13.2	9.3	22.5	24.9

1. Preliminary

  

Construction Completed

 (Percentage change from the previous period, %)

	2024					2025					2026
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q1	Q2¹			Jul¹
													May	Jun¹
Construction Completed (Constant)	-4.6	4.5	-5.5	-4.6	-4.6	-16.5	-7.2	-2.6	-0.8	-4.1	0.5	0.1	3.3	4.2	-1.1
(y-o-y)	-	4.1	-3.1	-9.9	-9.5	-	-21.1	-17.3	-11.9	-15.1	-6.1	-4.8	-3.7	-4.3	-3.2

1. Preliminary

Exports and Imports

 (US$ billion, y-o-y, %)

	2025					2026
	Annual	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug
Exports	709.33	159.53	175.13	184.89	189.78	65.84	67.64	87.33	85.75	87.58	101.96	98.96	98.26
(y-o-y, %)	3.8	-2.3	2.1	6.5	8.4	33.9	29.4	50.4	47.8	52.9	70.4	63.0	68.7
Average daily exports	2.64	2.49	2.63	2.59	2.85	2.80	3.56	3.80	3.57	4.27	4.53	4.12	4.47
Imports	631.90	152.84	154.40	162.49	162.16	57.14	51.93	60.75	62.11	60.76	66.06	68.57	63.51
(y-o-y, %)	-0.0	-1.3	-1.8	1.5	1.4	11.7	7.5	13.9	16.7	20.7	30.0	26.5	22.5
Average daily imports	2.35	2.39	2.32	2.27	2.44	2.43	2.73	2.64	2.59	2.96	2.94	2.86	2.89

Industrial Production (Mining, Manufacturing, Electricity and Gas Production)

                (Percentage change from the previous period, %)

  1. Preliminary

  2. Mining, Manufacturing, Electricity and Gas Production

  3. End-point (month, quarter, and year)

  4. Average operation ratio for the month (or quarter)

  

Service Output

           (Percentage change from the previous period, %)

    1. Preliminary

Composite Indices of Coincident and Leading Indicators

                                                                                           (Points)

	2025				2026
	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May¹	Jun¹	Jul¹
Cyclical indicator of coincident composite index	99.9	99.5	99.3	99.1	99.1	99.7	100.1	100.3	99.9	100.4	101.2
m-o-m (points)	0.0	-0.4	-0.2	-0.2	0.0	0.6	0.4	0.2	-0.4	0.5	0.8
Cyclical indicator of leading composite index	99.7	99.6	99.8	100.2	100.7	101.2	101.8	102.3	102.9	103.8	104.2
m-o-m (points)	-0.1	-0.1	0.2	0.4	0.5	0.5	0.6	0.5	0.6	0.9	0.4

1. Preliminary

 

Please refer to the attached files.