July Consumer Prices Up 2.6%... Four Consecutive Months in the 2% Range (Update)

Statistics Korea July Consumer Price Trends Announcement

Due to the prolonged rainy season causing a surge in fruit prices, citizens visiting a large supermarket in Yangjae, Seoul on the 18th are looking at fruits amid rising inflation concerns. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

Last month, the consumer price inflation rate recorded 2.6%. After four consecutive months of slowing down, the inflation rate slightly increased last month due to the impact of oil prices but still remained in the 2% range.

According to the 'July Consumer Price Trends' released by Statistics Korea on the 2nd, the consumer price index last month rose 2.6% compared to the same month last year. After declining in April (2.9%), May (2.7%), and June (2.4%), it somewhat rebounded in July.

Agricultural products and petroleum products pushed up prices in July. Agricultural, livestock, and fishery products rose by 5.5%, and industrial products including petroleum products increased by 2.6%, leading the overall upward trend.

Petroleum products also rose 8.4%, marking the highest increase in 21 months since October 2022 (10.3%). This is analyzed to be due to the rise in international oil prices and the partial reversal of the fuel tax reduction measures.

The core inflation index, excluding agricultural products and petroleum products, rose 2.1% compared to the same month last year. The index excluding food and energy increased by 2.2% compared to the same month last year.

The living cost index rose 3.0% compared to a year ago, returning to the 3% range. The living cost index peaked at 4.6% in October last year, fluctuated in the 3% range this year, and the rate of increase slowed to 2.8% in June.

The living cost index is compiled by selecting 144 items that consumers frequently purchase and spend a large portion of their expenses on, making them sensitive to price changes. Among these, food prices surged 3.4% compared to a year ago. Non-food items rose 2.7%. The living cost index including rent and lease rose 2.6%.

The fresh food index surged 7.7% compared to the same month last year, but the rate of increase significantly slowed compared to the previous month (11.7%). Fresh fruits rose the most sharply by 21.3%. On the other hand, fresh vegetables and fresh fish fell by 1.7% and 1.0%, respectively.

By item, pears, which have increased in consumption as a substitute for apples, recorded the largest increase at 154.6%, followed by apples (39.6%), gim (seaweed) (29.4%), napa cabbage (13.4%), imported beef (6.4%), pork (5.9%), and rice (5.0%), which rose significantly. Conversely, lettuce (-19.9%), oriental melon (-17.7%), bananas (-12.8%), crabs (-10.0%), chicken (-7.1%), mackerel (-5.7%), and domestic beef (-1.7%) fell.

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