Cargo processed at South Korean seaports inched down from a year earlier last month, the government said Wednesday, apparently reflecting a recent drop in the country's exports.

In April, cargo handled at the country's seaports came to 117.68 million tons, down 0.6 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

The drop was caused by a fall in both trade and domestic cargo.

Import-export cargo slipped 0.25 percent on-year to 97.91 million tons last month with domestic cargo shrinking 2.7 percent to some 19.77 million tons, according to the ministry.

"Import-export cargo dropped slightly from a year earlier despite a 13.5 percent on-year rise in shipments of automobiles, as well as a 12.9 percent spike in shipments of soft coal, as shipments of steel and machinery plunged 20.3 percent and 12.1 percent, respectively," it said.

The trade ministry earlier said the country's overall exports shrank 8.1 percent on-year in April, following a 4.2 percent drop in the previous month.

April also marked the second consecutive month of on-year drop in overall amount of seaport cargo.

Container cargo, on the other hand, gained 2.7 percent on-year to some 2.17 million twenty-foot-equivalent-units last month.

Such an increase, however, was mostly attributed to large increases in transshipment and domestic cargo.

Import-export cargo, in terms of containers, inched up 0.2 percent on-year to some 1.26 million TEUs while transshipment cargo, cargo handled here while en route to a final destination, gained 5.7 percent to about 886,000 TEUs.

Domestic cargo spiked 57.9 percent on-year to 21,000 TEUs.

By port, the country's largest seaport in Busan processed some 1.64 million TEUs, up 3.5 percent from a year earlier, as its transshipment cargo reached a record high of 835,000 TEUs, the ministry said. (Yonhap)