Sales at local department stores inched down in April from a year earlier amid worries that last month’s deadly ferry incident might put a damper on consumption, preliminary government data showed Friday.

Department store sales shrank 0.1 percent on-year in April, following a 1.1 percent decline a month earlier, according to the data by the finance ministry. This represented the third consecutive month of decline.

Sales at discount chains also dropped 3.7 percent on-year in April. This also marked the third straight month of decline, following a 23.1 percent drop in February.

The ministry said that retail sales in April would be slightly weaker than the previous month due to the drop off in consumption in the wake of the deadly ferry incident on April 16, which left more than 300 people dead or missing. (Yonhap)