Inflation slows down somewhat but fresh food prices up 17.3 percent

A citizen shops for groceries at a hypermarket in Seoul, South Korea. Han Soo-bin

Inflation has slowed down a little bit, with consumer prices rising at the 2 percent range for the second consecutive month. However, prices of fresh food, including fruits, have still risen sharply, and those of petroleum products have also risen by the most in 16 months, indicating that inflation remains a source of concern.

Statistics Korea announced on June 4 that the consumer price index in May rose 2.7 percent from the same month last year. It has been in the 2 percent range since April (2.9 percent) after peaking in March (3.1 percent).

The consumer price index for living necessaries, which refers to the price of living, was 3.1 percent higher than a year ago.

However, the fresh food index, which affects prices of food people frequently eat, still remained strong, rising 17.3 percent from the same period last year. Fresh fruits surged 39.5 percent and fresh vegetables rose 7.5 percent. The index fell 8.8 percent from a month earlier, as weather conditions improved, but continued to remain high compared to a year ago.

By category, the price of agricultural products rose 19 percent on-year. The increase was smaller than in April (20.3 percent), which is likely due to the government's emergency price stabilization fund injection from March.

The price of pears rose 126.3 percent from a year earlier, the largest increase on record. That of apples was up 80.4 percent on-year. The upward trend is expected to continue until fall, when this year's harvests will be available. The prices of tangerines (67.4 percent), peaches (63.5 percent), and tomatoes (37.8 percent) also saw significant year-over-year increases. Those of bananas (-13.1 percent) and mangoes (-18.8 percent), which are subject to low-tax allocation tariffs, dropped.

The price of petroleum products have also been on the rise for three months. It rose 3.1 percent from a year ago, the highest rise in 16 months since January last year (4.1 percent). The increase was driven by a spike in international oil prices to around $90 per barrel in April due to rising tensions in the Middle East.

Service prices also rose 2.3 percent due to higher utility bills. Prices for city buses (11.7 percent) and taxis (13.0 percent) increased significantly. Energy prices, such as heating (12.1 percent), gas (3 percent), and electricity (1.6 percent) also showed an upward trend. “Prices peaked in March and have been stabilizing gradually, but there are many uncertainties, such as oil prices and weather conditions, so we need to keep an eye on them,” said Gong Mi-sook, an economic trends and statistics officer at Statistics Korea.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance held a ministerial meeting on price-related issues and said it would extend the application of quota tariffs on 28 types of fruits, including bananas and pineapples, until the second half of this year. Quota tariffs will also be newly applied and extended to four agricultural products, including radishes.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.