Trade terms worsen for 12th month in March amid fast-rising import prices

The Bank of Korea / Yonhap

Korea's terms of trade worsened for the 12th straight month in March as import prices rose at a faster pace due mainly to the rising costs for buying oil and commodities, central bank data showed Thursday.

The nation's net terms-of-trade index for goods ― a gauge of overall trade terms ― stood at 87.3 last month, down 6.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

This marked the 12th straight month that the index has declined year-on-year since April when it fell 0.6 percent.

The BOK said the worsened trade terms were due to fast-rising import prices amid global supply disruptions and the war in Ukraine. Korea depends heavily on imports for energy needs.

Import prices jumped 22.2 percent year-on-year in March, while export prices grew 14.5 percent over the same period, the data showed. (Yonhap)