Producer prices up for a fifth consecutive month in April

[Photo by Yonhap]

South Korea’s producer prices rose for the fifth consecutive month in April 2024 as prices of agricultural, forestry and fishery products fell but those of manufactured goods and services continued to rise.

According to data released by the Bank of Korea (BOK) on Wednesday, the country’s producer price index, a key barometer of future inflation, hit 119.12 in April, up 0.3 percent from the previous month’s 118.82 figure.

The index has risen for five straight months since December 2023. Against a year-ago period, the index registered an increase of 1.8 percent, marking the ninth consecutive month of year-on-year increases since August 2023.

Prices of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products fell 3.0 percent in April from a month earlier, according to the data. Livestock prices rose 1.6 percent, but prices of agricultural products and fishery products fell 4.9 percent and 4.2 percent respectively.

Prices of manufactured goods saw a 0.7 percent increase, driven by rises in computers and electronic and optical equipment (1.8 percent), primary metal products (1.5 percent), and coal and petroleum products (1.7 percent). Prices of electricity, gas, water, and waste services fell 0.6 percent, while service prices rose 0.2 percent.

Breaking down the list of items by goods, significant price drops were observed for green peppers (-47.4 percent), cucumbers (-44.2 percent), mackerel (-41.5 percent), and industrial city gas (-7.3 percent), while prices rose relatively significantly for pork (5.3 percent), dried seaweed (6.6 percent), DRAM (16.4 percent), flash memory (11.4 percent), and chartered buses (5.2 percent).

“The prices of vegetables fell due to improved growing conditions and increased shipments,” Yoo Sung-wook, head of the BOK’s price statistics team, explained. “While the price of dried seaweed rose due to increased exports, the overall price of fishery products fell significantly due to the substantial increase in mackerel and other fish catches.”

The domestic supply price index, which measures price changes of goods including imported items, rose 1 percent from the previous month, led by the rise in raw materials (2.6 percent), intermediate goods (1 percent), and final goods (0.5 percent).

The total output price index that covers domestic shipments and exports rose 1.2 percent. The prices of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products fell 2.9 percent, but those of manufactured goods and services rose by 2 and 0.2 percent respectively.