By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
Food prices in the nation soared in April due to a sharp fall in supply caused by the lingering winter and unseasonal cold weather, raising concerns that inflation will continue to rise down the road.
Statistics Korea said Monday that the so-called fresh food price index, a composite index of fresh food, rose 12.1 percent in April year-on-year, the largest monthly increase since last May, when it grew 15.7 percent.
"Food prices surged last month due to abnormal weather conditions, such as low temperatures and lack of sunshine," a statistics agency official said.
Fresh vegetables rose 28.9 percent from a year earlier and notched the highest increase since November 2007 (45.2), and fresh fish and shellfish were up 8.4 percent from this time last year.
Among vegetables, green onion led agricultural produce in growth rates, rising 83.4 percent, compared to the same period last year, followed by spinach (78.1), young radish (76.9), cabbage (67.3), radish (50.2) and leek (49.9).
Seafoods, such as hairtail and squid, notched 26.6 and 26.1 percent, respectively, and Korean beef was up 20 percent.
There was an exception with fresh fruit however as prices decreased by 2.8 percent.
Meanwhile consumer inflation remained stable, with consumer prices rising 2.6 percent, the third straight month to stay within the central bank's inflation target range between 2 percent and 4 percent.