South Korea's food prices rose at the fifth-highest rate among member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in July partly on the back of unfavorable weather conditions, a report showed Saturday.
The prices of foodstuffs and non-alcoholic beverages in South Korea were up 5.6 percent from a year before, behind 10.1 percent for Turkey, 9.7 percent for Mexico, 6.6 percent for Latvia and 5.8 percent for the Czech Republic, according to the OECD report. The OECD average was 1.7 percent for the cited month.
The sharp rise in South Korean food prices was attributed to the prolonged rainy season and heat wave that sent costs of agricultural products soaring.
The prices of dairy products and eggs jumped 12.8 percent in July from a year earlier, with the price of eggs soaring 64.8 percent on-year due to an avian influenza outbreak. Fruit and vegetable prices also advanced 18.2 and 10.5 percent, respectively, to grow at a double-digit rate.
South Korea's consumer prices rose 2.2 percent on-year in July, also hovering above the OECD average of 2 percent, the report showed. (Yonhap)
