Containers are stacked at a port in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, May 8. Yonhap
Korea's industrial output lost ground in April from a month earlier, data showed Friday, with retail sales and facility investment sliding amid economic uncertainties stemming from tensions in the Middle East.
Industrial production fell 0.6 percent last month from March, according to data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
Output in the mining and manufacturing sector, a key pillar of the economy, shed 0.7 percent from the previous month due to the sluggish performance of the automobile industry, whose output fell 10 percent. Production in the chip sector, on the other hand, rose 3.1 percent.
Retail sales, a gauge of private spending, contracted 3.6 percent over the period, with facility investment falling 3.6 percent as well.
