Data from the Bank of Korea (BOK) showed on Wednesday that South Korea’s import prices experienced the sharpest surge in 17 months last month, largely due to a rise in the price of crude oil.
The import price index saw an increase of 4.4 percent in August, following a 0.2 percent dip in the previous month. This marks the most significant jump since a 7.6 percent climb in March last year.
In comparison to the same period in the past year, the prices dropped by 9 percent.
The import costs of raw materials rose by 7.2 percent, while those of intermediate goods increased by 3.7 percent.
Meanwhile, the country’s export price index also rose by 4.2 percent in August from the previous month, following a 0.1 percent rise in the month before.
The surge in import prices is a key factor in the path of South Korea’s overall rate of inflation.
The Dubai crude price, the country’s benchmark, stood at US$86.46 per barrel in August, up from $80.45 the previous month, according to the central bank.
South Korea’s consumer prices also rose at a faster-than-expected rate in August due to higher agricultural and manufactured goods prices.
Consumer prices, a key measure of inflation, rose by 3.4 percent last month from a year earlier, accelerating from the 2.3 percent increase in July, which was the highest on-year rise since the 3.7 percent growth in April.
The BOK maintained its key interest rate at 3.5 percent for the fifth consecutive time in August. The central bank had delivered seven consecutive rate hikes from April 2022 to January 2023.
Containers for exports and imports are stacked at a pier in South Korea’s largest port city of Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, in a photo taken on July 25, 2023. (Yonhap)
sam@yna.co.kr (END)
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