SEOUL, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's industrial output remained steady last month, with consumption and investment turning downward, statistical office data showed Tuesday.

The seasonally-adjusted production index in all industries, which exclude the agriculture, livestock and fishery sector, was unchanged in August from a month earlier after growing for the past two months, according to Statistics Korea.

Output among manufacturers expanded 2.6 percent last month, but production in the construction industry tumbled 6.1 percent.

Production in the service and the public administration sectors declined 0.7 percent and 1.1 percent each.

Output in automobile and medicine advanced in double digits, but those for semiconductors and food fell in single figures.

Manufacturers posted an average capacity ratio of 74.7 percent in August, up 2.2 percentage points compared with the previous month.

The retail sale index, which reflects private consumption, reduced 2.4 percent in August from a month earlier, turning downward from an expansion of 2.7 percent in July.

Facility investment retreated 1.1 percent last month after soaring 7.6 percent in the previous month.

The cyclical variation factor for leading economic indicators, which gauges the outlook for future economic situations, gained 0.5 point over the month to 102.0 in August.

The reading for coincident economic indicators, which measures the current economic condition, added 0.2 point to 99.2 in the cited month.