South Korea’s industrial output fell in May from a month earlier due mainly to a decline in chip production caused by a base effect and volume adjustments, data showed Tuesday, while retail sales rebounded slightly over the period. Industrial production fell 0.3 percent last month from April, according to data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics. Output in the mining and manufacturing sector, a key pillar of the economy, fell 3 percent due to a decline in the production of chips and pharmaceutical products, while that of the automobile sector increased. In detail, the production of the semiconductor industry fell 10 percent, with the data ministry citing a decrease in the shipment of memory chips, including dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), due to a base effect and volume adjustments. Output of pharmaceutical products fell 17.5 percent, while vehicle production gained 2.7 percent over the period. The data ministry said output in the service sector rose 1.3 percent on-month in May, led by stronger performance in the finance and science industries. Retail sales, a gauge of private sp
