South Korea's Producer Prices Climb at Fastest Pace in 28 Years

(MENAFN) South Korean supplier prices climbed for an eighth straight month in April, propelled by a dramatic spike in oil product costs, data from the country's central bank revealed Thursday.

The producer price index (PPI) surged 2.5 percent month-on-month — extending an unbroken run of increases stretching back to September last year — marking the steepest monthly jump recorded in over 28 years, since February 1998, the Bank of Korea (BOK) reported.

The relentless climb was fueled largely by sustained Middle East tensions, which drove coal and oil product prices sharply higher. Producer prices for that energy category alone rocketed 31.9 percent in April on a monthly basis — an extraordinary single-month acceleration.

Industrial goods prices, encompassing oil products, rose 4.4 percent last month, outpacing the prior month's already-elevated gain of 3.7 percent.

Not all sectors tracked upward. Agricultural, livestock, and fishery product prices among suppliers retreated 1 percent in April, a moderation following a steeper 3.3 percent decline recorded in March.

Service sector prices edged 0.8 percent higher, with transport costs alongside finance and insurance services identified as the primary upward drivers.

Utility prices — covering electricity, natural gas, and tap water — nudged up 0.3 percent in April, reversing a 0.2 percent dip from the preceding month.

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