The overall added value of South Korea’s mining and manufacturing industries suffered a 1.4 percent year-on-year drop last year, the sharpest drop since 1998 following the Asian financial crisis, according to the latest data from Statistics Korea.

A tentative annual report released on Friday estimated the industry’s added value was worth 559.8 trillion won.

Though the medicine, grocery, electric devices and automobile sectors enjoyed a bump in added value, sectors such as mechanical equipment, chemicals, oil refining and electronics led the downward trend, bringing the largest plunge since 1998 when the industry’s added value suffered a 2.1 percent drop.

The number of businesses within the industries increased 0.2 percent, standing at 69,975 while the number of employees was 2,940, down 0.9 percent, the report said.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)