This file photo, taken Oct. 6, 2020, shows people shopping for vegetables at a discount store in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Prices of South Korea’s agricultural, livestock and fisheries imports jumped nearly 32 percent in February from a year earlier, data showed Monday, putting upward pressure on the country’s inflation.
The import price index for farm, livestock and fisheries products came to 112.6 in February, up 31.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Trade Statistics Promotion Institute.
It represents the third straight month that the country’s index has jumped more than 30 percent from a year earlier. The index shot up 33.5 percent on-year in December before surging 31.5 percent in January.
From the previous month, the import price index gained 0.8 percent in February, slowing from a 1.6 percent on-month increase in January.
By sector, the import index for agricultural goods spiked 33.3 percent on-year in February, with that for livestock and fisheries products jumping 36.7 percent and 13.5 percent.
The base year for the import price index is 2015, with a benchmark figure of 100.
February’s surge was attributed to a global supply chain bottleneck, rising demand amid the global economy’s recovery from the coronavirus impact and geopolitical risks stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The South Korean currency’s weakness against the U.S. dollar was also responsible, the institute added.
Market watchers voiced concern that the import price index could have risen at a faster pace in March since the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent international grain prices skyrocketing.
South Korea’s consumer prices rose 3.7 percent on-year in February on soaring energy costs, growing more than 3 percent for the fifth straight month and staying above the central bank’s mid-term target of 2 percent for 11 months on end.
(Yonhap)
