South Korean manufacturers' profitability last quarter rose to its highest level in around three years.
According to the nation's central bank, the bumper profits were mainly due strong semiconductor exports.
Our Ko Roon-hee reports.
Korean companies saw their profitability increase in the 3rd quarter compared to last year... on the back of strong exports in the machinery and electronics sectors.
This is according to the Bank of Korea's quarterly report released on Thursday, which is based on a sample survey of more than 3-thousand companies.
These firms' operating-profits-to-sales ratio, or profitability, came to 7-point-6 percent for the third quarter.
This is higher than last year's Q3 record of 7-point-4 percent.
Breaking it down by sector, profitability in the manufacturing industry hit a record-high of 9-point-7 percent.
This was mainly thanks to strong global demand for Korean semiconductors.
Exports of semiconductors surged by more than 40 percent on-year in the third quarter.
The BOK said another factor was a rise in exports of OLED panels.
In fact, shipments of OLED panels accounted for almost half of all display panel exports in Q3, which was a big jump from last year.
However, a separate report from the Korea Economic Research Institute shows that without the performances of these top companies, the situation in the electronics sector is looking grim.
When the institute measured operating profits at 47 electronics companies for the first three quarters of this year, it grew by more than 50-percent on year.
But when it excluded the profits of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, the nation's biggest chipmakers, operating profits fell by almost 50-percent during the same period.
Experts blame factors both at home and abroad.
"Korean companies' technological competitiveness has not been improving. On top of that, Korea is closely followed by China. Also, I believe a rise in labor costs made companies less competitive."
Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News.
