From now on, the prices of malatang, meal kits, and salads will be included in the consumer price index. Prices for items such as bracken and bellflower roots will be excluded. The basket of goods in the price index has changed with lifestyles and consumption shifts.
The Ministry of Data and Statistics (MODS) said on the 7th that it plans to overhaul the consumer price index base year from 2020 to 2025 and release it on Dec. 18 this year. The number of price items was 458 under the 2020 base, and with this overhaul it will decrease by three to 455.
◇ "reflecting shifts in consumption"… items change from 458 to 455 in five years
Ten items were newly added, including food such as ▲malatang ▲meal kits ▲salads, as well as ▲software subscription fees ▲cloud storage fees ▲online shopping subscription fees ▲electric vehicle charging fees ▲smartwatches ▲infant and toddler lesson fees ▲ready-to-assemble storage furniture.
Malatang began trending about five years ago and is popular among people in their teens and 20s, and salads have taken hold as a meal as dieting and health-conscious trends spread. Meal kits, which bundle ingredients, seasonings, and recipes so you can easily cook and eat at home, are also becoming routine. Expenditure on various information technology (IT) subscriptions is also increasing.
Meanwhile, 13 items that are not used as much as before were excluded from the price index. ▲Peanuts ▲bellflower roots ▲bracken ▲butane gas ▲sinks ▲dehumidifiers ▲storage devices (USB drives and external hard drives) fell short of the minimum consumption expenditure threshold, and ▲art supplies ▲kindergarten tuition ▲supplementary school fees ▲childcare facility fees saw the share of expenditure borne by parents decline as free services expanded. In addition, ▲dashboard cameras ▲boxed lunches were also removed from the basket.
◇ first consumer price index applying new items to be released in December
Some products previously surveyed as a single item were subdivided. Pork split into ▲domestic pork ▲imported pork; electric-powered vehicles into ▲hybrid passenger cars ▲electric passenger cars; air purifiers into ▲air purifiers ▲humidity control devices; and online content fees into ▲online game fees ▲streaming service fees.
Conversely, kimchi-jjigae Baekban and doenjang-jjigae Baekban were combined into ▲stew Baekban; bath fees and jjimjilbang fees into ▲bath fees; functional beverages and other beverages into ▲other beverages; and barber fees and beauty fees into ▲beauty fees.
In this overhaul, the data agency also adjusted weights for price items, considering importance. The agency said weights increased for dwellings, water, electricity and fuel; food and lodging; other goods and services; and recreation and culture, while transportation, education, household goods and household services, and food and nonalcoholic beverages decreased.
Meanwhile, the data agency revises the representative items and weights of the consumer price index every five years to reflect changes in the economic and social structure and household consumption patterns. Based on last year's household income and expenditure survey, items with a share of 312 won (one ten-thousandth) or more of the monthly average household consumption expenditure are eligible for inclusion. The results will be finalized after deliberation by the National Statistics Commission, and on Dec. 31 the first release of consumer price trends reflecting the overhaul will be published.