Widespread Surge in High Prices... 20% of Consumer Price Survey Items See Double-Digit Increase

Among 458 Surveyed Items Last Month, 93 Rose by Over 10%
Food and Energy Price Increases Rank High

A large supermarket in Seoul.
Photo by Asia Economy

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Among the 458 items surveyed for consumer prices last month, 20% saw prices rise by more than 10% compared to a year ago.

According to the National Statistical Portal Statistics (KOSIS) of Statistics Korea on the 10th, among the 458 items surveyed for the consumer price index last month, 93 items had a price increase rate of 10% or more, accounting for 20.3%.

The number of items with double-digit price increases was 43 (9.4%) in May last year, but it has been steadily increasing to 61 (13.3%) in January this year, 71 (15.5%) in February and March respectively, and 85 (18.6%) in April.

The item with the highest price increase last month was kerosene, which rose 60.8% compared to a year ago. Cabbage (54.6%), diesel (45.8%), noodles (33.2%), potatoes (32.1%), and radish (31.3%)?food and energy items?ranked high in the price increase list.

Not only food and energy but also other items showed steep price increases. The consumer price index excluding food and energy rose 3.4% last month, the highest since February 2009 (4.0%). The index excluding food and energy is the core consumer price index according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) method.

Among the 309 items excluding food and energy, 35 items (11.3%) had prices that rose by 10% or more. By item type, durable goods rose 3.4% compared to a year ago, marking the largest increase since May 2010 (3.5%).

International oil prices are rising sharply.
Photo by Yonhap News

Sinks (19.2%), wardrobes (13.6%), desks (12.7%), bicycles (12%), and automobile accessories (11%) saw significant price increases. Due to supply chain disruptions, imported passenger cars (4.3%), multipurpose passenger cars (3.8%), and large passenger cars (3.0%) also showed upward trends.

Personal services excluding dining out rose 3.5% last month, marking the highest increase since July 2011 (3.5%). Insurance service fees (14.8%), designated driver fees (13.2%), domestic group travel expenses (10.4%), and domestic airfare (10.2%) saw significant increases.

Including dining out, the overall personal services price rose 5.1%, the largest increase since December 2008 (5.4%).

The Korea Development Institute explained, "As supply-side pressures persist long-term, the accumulated rise in production costs is spreading to other sectors," adding, "Supply chain disruptions and raw material price increases are intertwined during the process of demand returning to normal after COVID-19."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) also recorded the largest increase in 41 years. The U.S. Department of Labor announced on the 10th (local time) that the May CPI surged 8.6% compared to the same month last year.

The increase was not only larger than the previous month (8.3%) but also surpassed March's (8.5%), setting a new record for the largest increase since December 1981. Month-over-month, it rose 1.0%, also exceeding market expectations (0.7%).

The core CPI, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose 6.0% year-over-year and 0.6% month-over-month.

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