Korea's industrial power sales rise on export growth

Industrial electricity sales in South Korea, the export-driven economy, rose last month as exports rebounded strongly on more business days, a government report showed Wednesday. Power sales in the industrial sector, a barometer of industrial activities, reached 22.62 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in January, up 4.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. Exports increased 10.9 percent in January from a year earlier after falling 5.7 percent in the prior month. The gain was attributable to more business days stemming from the Lunar New Year's holiday, helping power demand rise further. Power demand from auto and chip industries, two major export sectors, rose 11.9 percent and 6.6 percent each last month, with the figure for the machinery equipment industry growing 7.2 percent. Total power sales, including household and industrial demand, grew 4.7 percent in January from a year ago. The figure for educational facilities purpose jumped 11.6 percent, and those for the general and household usages gained 4.7 percent and 3.6 percent respectively.