Consumer prices rise 2% in January, slowest pace in 5 months
A customer shops at a discount retailer in downtown Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap
Korea's consumer prices rose at the slowest pace in five months in January, partly helped by the steady prices of petroleum products, government data showed Tuesday.
Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, increased 2 percent from a year earlier last month, according to the data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
It marks the smallest on-year increase since August, when the figure stood at 1.7 percent.
Inflation had remained above the Bank of Korea's 2 percent target for four consecutive months from September to December.
The ministry attributed last month's slower growth primarily to petroleum product prices, which remained largely unchanged from a year earlier.
"International crude oil prices based on Dubai crude fell from around $80 per barrel in January of last year to the $60 range this year," Lee Doo-won, a ministry official, said.
Korea, which depends heavily on energy imports, is particularly vulnerable to external price shocks, which often drive domestic inflation.
In December, petroleum product prices jumped 6.1 percent from a year earlier, marking the largest on-year gain since February, when their prices increased 6.3 percent.
Prices of agricultural, livestock and fishery products rose 2.6 percent from a year earlier in January, marking the slowest growth since September.
Still, some individual items posted sharp price increases, including rice, apples and mackerel, whose prices jumped 18.3 percent, 10.8 percent and 11.7 percent on-year, respectively, the ministry said.
Egg prices rose 6.8 percent from a year earlier in January as output declined due to the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Prices of industrial goods increased 1.7 percent, while electricity, gas and water rates rose 0.2 percent.
Prices of processed food rose 2.8 percent in January, accelerating from a 2.5 percent increase the previous month.
Instant noodle prices surged 8.2 percent on-year, marking the sharpest increase since August 2023, when they rose 9.4 percent.
"The Lunar New Year holiday could act as an upward pressure on agricultural, livestock and fishery product prices this month, but some stabilization is expected through measures taken by relevant government agencies," Lee said. This year's holiday period runs from Feb. 16 to 18.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, went up 2.3 percent on-year in January, the ministry said.