The number of companies in South Korea grew last year but their combined shipments shrank, apparently affected by sluggish market conditions, government data showed Thursday.
   
The number of companies employing 10 workers or more in the manufacturing and mining areas came to 65,759 as of end-2013, up
2.4 percent or 1,524 from a year earlier, according to the data by Statistics Korea. 
  
Their combined employment also rose 2.9 percent on-year to 2.84 million.
  

Their combined shipments, however, inched down 1 percent to about 1,495 trillion won (US$1.36 trillion) last year due to declines in the steel, oil refinery and electric devices fields, the data showed.
  
A company's average shipment was estimated at 22.82 billion won, down 3.3 percent or 776 million won from a year earlier, according to the survey. (Yonhap)