South Korea’s industrial output declines in May from April, according to data released by the Ministry of Data and Statistics. Overall industrial production falls 0.3% month-on-month, extending losses seen in prior months. The drop is driven mainly by weaker mining and manufacturing output, which falls 3% on the month. Within manufacturing, semiconductor production decreases 10%, with the data ministry attributing the decline to lower shipments of memory chips, including DRAM, linked to a base effect and adjustments in production volumes. Output of pharmaceutical products also falls, dropping 17.5%. By contrast, automobile production rises 2.7%. Separately, the government notes that the broader industrial decrease occurs amid disruptions in the supply of raw materials following the Middle East war, alongside adjustments to chip output after production had recently increased sharply. In the services sector, output rises 1.3% month-on-month, supported by stronger activity in finance and science. Retail sales rebounded slightly over the period, according to the same releases.