October Consumer Prices Up 3.2%... Largest Increase in 9 Years and 9 Months (Update)

Statistics Korea Consumer Price Trends

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seon-hee] Last month, consumer prices rose by more than 3%, marking the largest increase in 9 years and 9 months. This was due to the ongoing high oil prices combined with a base effect from last year's telecommunications fee support.

According to the "October Consumer Price Trends" released by Statistics Korea on the 2nd, the consumer price index last month recorded 108.97 (2015=100 basis), rising 3.2% compared to the same month a year earlier. This is the highest increase since January 2012 (3.3%), marking the largest rise in 9 years and 9 months.

Contrary to the government's initial forecast that prices would stabilize in the second half of the year, the consumer price inflation rate continued to rise, recording 2.6% in July, 2.6% in August, 2.5% in September, and finally breaking into the 3% range.

By category, industrial products rose 4.3% compared to a year ago. In particular, petroleum prices increased by 27.3%, marking the largest rise since August 2008 (27.8%).

During the same period, service prices also rose by 3.2%. Prices for electricity, water, and gas increased by 1.1% last month due to the electricity rate hike.

Agricultural, livestock, and fishery products rose by 0.2%, showing a slowdown in the upward trend for three consecutive months.

The living cost index, which separately tracks 141 items with high purchase frequency and expenditure share such as daily necessities to show the "perceived inflation" level, rose by 4.6%. This is the largest increase in 10 years and 5 months since May 2011 (5.2%).

Eo Un-seon, Director of Economic Trend Statistics at Statistics Korea, said, "While prices of agricultural, livestock, and fishery products remained stable, the rise in prices of industrial products such as petroleum and processed foods, as well as personal services, continued. Additionally, the base effect from last October's telecommunications fee support significantly expanded the rise in public service prices."

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