Local food prices rise sharply in May

Local food product costs rose twice as fast as national consumer prices in May, fueling inflationary concerns that could exert a negative influence on economic growth, a government report showed Monday.

The joint report by the Bank of Korea and Statistics Korea showed prices of 38 staples such as pork fat back cuts, various traditional stews and noodles shot up by more 8 percent last month compared to the year before.

This, it said, is far higher than the 4.1 percent rise in the country’s consumer prices tallied for the cited month.

“Prices of fat back pork rose 14.5 percent on-year, with numbers for other everyday foods like kimchi stew and naengmyeon, or cold buckwheat noodles, jumping 8.8 percent and 8.9 percent, each in the cited month,” the report said. It said that such high gains could exert overall inflationary pressure.

Seoul’s annual inflation target has been set at 3 percent, although many economists think such a goal may be hard to achieve this year.

Other favorites like ox bone stew and kalguksu, a soup with handmade, knife-cut wheat flour noodles, rose by 7.3 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively, while Chinese dishes such as jajangmyeon ― noodles served with black bean sauce ― rose by more than 8 percent.

The latest report, however, said prices of ice cream, salads and fried chicken remained relatively unchanged from the year before along with pizzas and pasta.

“The sharp rise in prices is due in part to gains in international staple grain costs and competition among local restaurants,” the central bank said. It pointed out that if one restaurant raised prices on food it served, others in the vicinity followed suit.

The BOK added that the rise in pork prices has been triggered in part by the foot-and-mouth outbreak that swept the country over the winter months and resulted in more than 3.47 million head of pigs and cattle being culled and buried.

Another factor that contributed to food price gains is a higher number of people going on picnics to enjoy the warmer weather, which has spurred consumer demand. 

(Yonhap News)