S. Korean firms win record orders for machinery tools in Oct

SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korean firms received record orders for machine
tools last month on rising demand at home and abroad, a trade association said
Thursday.
According to the Korea Machine Tool Manufacturers' Association, the local
manufacturers received orders valued at 230 billion won (US$199 million) last
month, up 11.2 percent from a year earlier.
The October figure also marks the largest of the year on a monthly basis, it said.
"Demand for machine tools rose on the back of rising demand for facilities used
for automotive transmissions," it said.
During the first 10 months of the year, however, exports of machine tools dropped
42.8 percent from a year earlier to $48 million, according to the association.
Last year, local firms produced machine tools worth 4.8 trillion won, and their
exports amounted to $1.9 billion, it said.
sam@yna.co.kr
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