In nearly a year

South Korea's producer prices backtracked for the first time in nearly one year in October as farm production recovered in the fall season, central bank data showed on Nov. 20, 2018.


The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, reached 105.41 last month, down 0.4 percent from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It is the first on-month decline since November last year when the index edged down 0.1 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, it rose 2.2 percent to extend its positive streak for the 24th-straight months since November 2016.


Prices of agricultural products tumbled 12.3 percent on-month and those of meat and dairy products sank 10.6 percent.


"The worst hot spell in the summer undermined crop production and pushed up prices of agricultural goods to a large extent," the BOK said. "As the weather became cooler, the supply of farm products increased and prices went down."


At the same time, prices of industrial goods, petrochemicals and gas remained still last month, and the price index for the service sector also stayed intact.(Yonhap)

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