Last month, the consumer price index recorded a 1.7% increase. This is a 0.4 percentage point drop compared to the previous month. Despite the price of agricultural, livestock, and fishery products rising to the largest extent in 1 year and 2 months due to the issuance of consumer coupons for livelihood recovery, the significant reduction in public service prices was influenced by a 50% discount from certain telecommunications companies.
According to the Consumer Price Trends report released by Statistics Korea on the 2nd, last month's consumer price index was 116.45 (2020=100), a 0.1% decrease compared to the same month last year. Consumer prices rebounded to 2.2% in June, recorded 2.1% in July, and then fell back to the 1% range last month.
By item, the increase in food prices was notable. The prices of agricultural, livestock, and fishery products rose 4.8% compared to the same month last year, marking the highest increase since July 2024 (5.5%). This was due to the start of the summer vacation season in August and increased demand from the issuance of livelihood recovery consumer coupons. During the same period, industrial products rose 1.7%, while electricity, gas, and water prices increased by 0.3%.
Among the major fluctuating items, the increases compared to the same month last year were distinct for pork (9.4%), domestic beef (6.6%), rice (11.0%), mackerel (13.6%), peaches (28.5%), eggs (8.0%), and glutinous rice (45.6%). Conversely, there were decreases for pears (-37.0%), carrots (41.8%), lettuce (-16.8%), radishes (-19.9%), grapes (-7.3%), and pumpkins (-13.8%).
Compared to the previous month, prices for cabbage (51.6%), tomatoes (35.9%), bell peppers (52.1%), lettuce (34.1%), spinach (50.7%), and other vegetables all rose. On the other hand, pears (-9.3%), garlic (-3.2%), squid (-2.0%), and bananas (-3.0%) saw price declines.
Service prices increased by 1.3% compared to the same month last year. The inflation rate for personal services was recorded at 3.1%. Eating out and services excluding dining out also rose by 3.1% compared to the same month last year.
In contrast, public service prices fell by 3.6% compared to the same month last year. This was influenced by a 50% fee reduction from certain telecommunications companies, leading to a 21% decrease in mobile phone charges. Mobile phone fees fell to their largest extent since October 2020, when 20,000 won was subsidized to all citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic (-21.6%). This caused the overall price level to drop by 0.59 percentage points.
The core inflation rate, which reflects the underlying trend of prices according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) excluding food and energy, increased by 1.3%. The living cost index, which reflects the perceived prices for 144 items that are frequently purchased and have a high expenditure proportion, rose by 1.5% compared to the same month last year, significantly lower than the previous month's increase (2.5%).