SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Amid a hike in oil prices and prolonged supply network disruptions, transportation costs have continued double-digit growth for five straight months.
According to Statistics Korea, transportation costs for July were up 15.3 percent compared to a year ago. The growth rate remained high at 12.7 percent for March, 13.8 percent for April, 14.5 percent for May and 16.8 percent for June.
This was the first time for transportation costs to continue double-digit growth for five straight months since the period from December 1997 to November 1998.
Transportation costs, in general, consist of transportation equipment costs (e.g. passenger vehicles), personal transportation equipment operation costs (e.g. fuel and repair costs) and transportation service costs (e.g. railroads, roads and airlines).
Among them, personal transportation equipment operation costs rose by 26 percent in July, serving as the main driver for the increase in overall transportation costs. This is primarily because of the hike in fuel and gasoline prices.
In addition, the price of automobile supplies such as car seats and wipers increased by 18.1 percent, the highest since 21.3 percent in September 2013. The prices of automobile tires also rose by 9.9 percent.
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