South Korea - The South Korean market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw began to stabilise in the fourth quarter of 2020, with sales up slightly at 57,877 units albeit from a weak 57,225 units in the same period of the previous year, based on data from various industry sources.

The improvement came despite a 1.4% year-on-year contraction in economic output the fourth quarter, after shrinking by 1.1% in the third quarter of the year, according to data released by Bank of Korea. Over the full year, the economy shrank by an estimated 1.1%. Private consumption plunged by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, the steepest rate of decline since the 1998 Asia financial crisis, reflecting a sharp drop in household consumption as social restrictions were tightened to slow the recent rise in COVID-19 infections. Fixed investment grew by just 1.2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter compared with a 3.2% contraction in the third quarter, while public spending increased by 2.3% after growing by 4.6% previously. Construction sector activity shrank by 2.8% after declining by 1.9% previously, while the service sector declined by 2.1% after an earlier drop of 1.3%.