Retail sales at South Korea’s department stores fell for the fourth consecutive month in December.
Data from the Finance Ministry, collected from department stores owned by Hyundai, Lotte and Shinsegae, shows sales were down 0.3 per cent year on year.

However, the Finance Ministry said on Friday that while year on year data showed a drop, there was continued evidence of retail sales across the nation recovering when measured on a month to month basis, since the significant fall last September when the country was overcome by negative sentiment in the face of negative economic news.

While down, the 0.3 per cent represents a significant improvement on November when sales were down 6.5 per cent.

In the discount sector, sales fell 3.6 per cent in December, year on year, compared with 4.7 per cent in November, following declines of 10.1 per cent in September and 0.9 per cent in October.

Combined discount and department store sales fell 6.3 per cent in September and by a more modest 2.2 per cent in October.

South Korean consumers are clearly loosening their wallets again after September’s spooking – new car sales soared 27.2 per cent on an annual basis, after recording a seven per cent gain the preceding month.