S. Korea's industrial power sales jump

South Korea's industrial electricity sales expanded 9.7 percent last month from a year earlier due to strong demand for power supply amid robust exports, a government report showed Thursday. Sales of industrial electricity, a gauge of industrial activities, reached 21.09 billion kilowatt-hours in February, up 9. 7 percent from the same month of last year, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The February figure was a rebound from a 0.6 percent on-year contraction for January. The rebound was attributed to solid export growth. Rising working days and relatively cold temperatures also contributed to growing power consumption. Meanwhile, electricity sales for educational facilities, households and general usage grew 5.8 percent, 1.1 percent and 2.4 percent respectively in February from a year before, all rebounding from a minus growth the previous month. Total power sales, including industrial and household sector, came in at 41.93 billion kilowatt-hours in February, up 5.2 percent from the previous year.