Combined sales of South Korea's listed firms affiliated with the 10 largest business groups here continued to shrink from a year earlier in the first quarter, industry data showed Saturday, reflecting the difficulties facing local firms due to sluggish exports and domestic consumption.
  
In the three months ended March 31, the combined sales of 69 listed firms affiliated with the top 10 business groups came to 945.09 trillion won (US$793.19 billion), down 0.34 percent from the same period last year, according to the data from market research firm FN Guide.
   

The top 10 groups include Samsung, Hyundai Motor Group and steelmaking giant POSCO.
  
POSCO Group suffered the largest setback as its flagship steelmaking unit POSCO posted a 17.48 percent on-year plunge in its Q1 sales. The entire group's Q1 sales came to about 17.83 trillion won, down 16.5 percent from the same period last year.

Sales of SK Group tumbled 12.77 percent over the cited period as its oil refinery unit SK Innovation suffered a 21.48 on-year cut in sales, with sales of its chipmaking affiliate SK hynix also plunging 24.13 percent.
  
Such cuts in sales were apparently caused by a prolonged slump in exports, as well as local spending.
  
South Korea's exports have dropped every single month since the start of last year, tumbling 11.2 percent on-year in April alone.
  
Domestic consumption also remains weak since the outbreak of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in mid-2015 that claimed 38 lives here.
  
The country's consumer price inflation index has grown at around 1 percent for three consecutive months since February, far short of a 2-percent target set out by its central bank.
  
Still, many managed to keep their business growing.
  
Hanhwa Group saw its sales jump 27.51 percent on-year in the January-March period, with GS Group and Hyundai Motor Group also reporting an 11.8 percent and 7.27 percent spike, respectively, in their Q1 sales.
  
An earlier report from the Korea Exchange, the operator of the Seoul bourse, showed 519 firms listed on the main bourse KOSPI had their sales grow an average 0.24 percent in 2015, while 676 companies listed on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ saw their sales grow 4.28 percent on average. (Yonhap)