Last Month's Inflation Rate Returns to 0% Range... Only Grocery Prices Soar (Update)

Statistics Korea, October Consumer Price Trends

Consumer Price Inflation Rate, September 1.0% → October 0.1%
Agricultural, Livestock, and Fishery Products Up 13.3%
Jeonse Price Inflation Rate 0.5 → 0.6%

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Ju Sang-don] The consumer price inflation rate in October returned to the 0% range. While prices of industrial products, electricity, water, gas, and services showed a downward trend, agricultural, livestock, and fishery products recorded an increase of over 13%.

According to the consumer price trends for October released by Statistics Korea on the 3rd, the Consumer Price Index stood at 105.61 (2015=100), rising 0.1% compared to the same month last year. This is a 0.9 percentage point decrease from 1.0% in the previous month, showing an inflation rate again in the 0% range.

The core inflation rate, which excludes seasonal factors and temporary shocks, such as agricultural products and petroleum, also rose by only 0.1% compared to the same month last year. The food and energy excluded index, which is calculated based on 317 items excluding food and energy-related items according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) standards, fell by 0.3% compared to the same month last year.

Among a total of 460 items, the living cost index, which is calculated based on 141 items that are frequently purchased and have a high expenditure share and thus are sensitive to price changes, decreased by 0.7% compared to the same month last year. However, food within this category rose by 4.7% compared to the same month last year. In particular, the fresh food index jumped 19.9% compared to one year ago. Although this is a slowdown from September (21.5%), it still shows a sharp increase. Fresh vegetables and fresh fruits rose by 20.3% and 28.9%, respectively, compared to the same month last year. Fresh fishery products increased by 6.3%.

Service prices fell by 0.8% compared to the same month last year. Although rent increased by 0.5%, public services dropped by 6.6%. Jeonse and monthly rent rose by 0.6% and 0.3%, respectively, compared to the same month last year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.