South Korea's manufacturing and mining industry shipments contracted in 2014 mainly due to minus growth in the electronics and refined petroleum sectors, a government report showed Thursday.
  

Statistics Korea said total shipments by companies with more than 10 employees topped 1,490 trillion won ($1.3 trillion), down 0.3 percent, or 4.4 trillion won, from the year before.
  

The decrease is attributable to a 4.6-percent on-year drop in electronics and a 4.4-percent decrease in shipments from local refined petroleum businesses in the one-year period, the agency said.
  

Such losses offset solid gains in autos and machinery equipment, it said.

The annual report also said that the average shipment for a manufacturing company stood at 21.7 billion won last year, down 1.1 billion won vis-a-vis 2013.
  

On the positive side, value-added products by mining and manufacturing companies inched up 0.8 percent, or 4 trillion won, in 2014 to over 485.34 trillion won.
  

Value-added output growth was fueled by a 4.8-percent rise in autos and a 6.1-percent gain in manufacturing equipment, although electronics and chemicals lost ground.
  

As of the end of 2014, there were 68,861 mining and manufacturing companies in the country, employing 2.93 million people. This represents a 4.7-percent and 3.8-percent gain from the year before.
  

There were more metal production, auto and food-processing related companies in South Korea last year compared to 2013, with more people being hired by carmakers and metal companies. Electronics and textiles, on the other hand, shed workers, according to the report. (Yonhap)