Korea’s consumer prices up 1 percent in March

South Korean consumer prices grew more than 1 percent for the second month in a row in March, government data showed Friday.

The country’s consumer price index rose 1.0 percent last month from a year earlier, slowing slightly from the 1.3 percent on-year gain in February, according to a report by Statistics Korea.

Previously, the price increase rate had remained below 1 percent for 11 straight months until November last year, before rising to above 1 percent in February.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food prices, increased 1.9 percent compared to last year, down 0.1 percentage point from a year ago.

Statistics Korea said a price hike in agricultural products contributed to the overall rise in consumer prices last month. It was due to a supply shortage of main farm products like Chinese cabbage, onions and garlic.

“Nationwide output of onions and garlic has remained low for months due to the imbalance of supply and demand,” said Woo Young-jae, director of the price statistics division at the statistical bureau

Prices of agricultural products jumped 5.4 percent on-year in March and meat prices rose 7.4 percent on-year.

Prices of service bills, including rent and public transportation fees, rose 2.3 percent on-year last month, lending support to the overall pickup, he added.

Prices of petroleum products, however, sank 12.4 percent on-year on a global low oil price trend.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)