South Korea's industrial output in December remained nearly unchanged from the month before.

According to Statistics Korea on Wednesday, production in the mining and manufacturing sectors contracted by half-a-percent in December, as falls in the outputs of the electronic components and metal processing sectors offset the growth in the oil refining and semiconductor sectors.

Industrial output logged the first on-month growth in five months in November with a one-point-six percent growth from October.

Industrial output posted zero growth for two consecutive months through August, before contracting by zero-point-nine percent in September and zero-point-four percent in October.

The average rate of operation for the local manufacturing industry also dipped by zero-point-eight percentage points to 73 percent.

For all of 2016, industrial output grew three-point-one percent last year from 2015. The yearly average operation rate stood at 72-point-four percent, the lowest since 67-point-six percent in 1998.