producer prices-August
Producer prices drop in Aug. for 1st time in nearly 2 yrs
SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's producer prices dropped for the first time in nearly two years in August as global crude oil prices fell amid recession woes, central bank data showed Friday.
The producer price index, a major barometer of consumer inflation, stood at 122.57 last month, down 0.3 percent from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).
This marked the first decline in producer prices since October 2020 when the prices declined 0.4 percent from the previous month.
Compared with a year earlier, however, the index rose 8.4 percent, the 21st consecutive month of on-year increase.
The on-month downturn is attributed to a fall in international crude oil prices amid worries that aggressive monetary tightening in major countries could weigh on economic growth.
Factory product prices were down 0.3 percent on-month in August, with the prices of coal and oil products dropping 8.6 percent over the same period, the data showed.
An increase in producer prices could add to upward pressure on inflation as it could drive up prices of consumer goods.
The country's consumer prices jumped 5.7 percent in August from a year earlier, while slowing from the previous month's 6.3 percent rise, the fastest growth pace in almost 24 years.
To fight inflation, the central bank has hiked its policy interest rate seven times by combined 2 percentage points since August last year, including the 0.25 point increase last month.
(END)
(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved
