Producer prices in June rose 8.6% from a year earlier, the Bank of Korea said on the 22nd. Following May (8.6%), June also remained at the highest level in 3 years and 10 months since July 2022 (9.2%). The producer price inflation rate climbed to 2.5% in February, 4.1% in March, and 7.2% in April, and is now in the 8% range.
According to the Bank of Korea's "provisional producer price index for June" released that day, the producer price index for June was 130.03, similar to the previous month (129.98). After rising for nine straight months through May, the upward trend has stalled.
By item, agricultural, forestry and fishery products rose 0.7% from the previous month. Among livestock products, pork rose 4.3% due to the impact of an infectious disease. In contrast, potatoes fell 22.9%, and other fish fell 12.5%.
Manufactured goods fell 0.3%. That is because international oil prices dropped quickly after the United States and Iran reached an end-of-war agreement. Although production prices for naphtha (-23.5%) and jet fuel (-23.4%) fell, increases in computer memory (10.3%) and industrial instruments (18.2%) limited the overall decline in manufactured goods.
Electricity, gas, water and waste rose 1%. That is because the surge in international oil prices immediately after the Middle East war was reflected with a time lag in industrial city gas (10.6%).
Services rose 0.2% on the back of a sharp rise in the KOSPI index. As more people invested in stocks, commission fees for consigned trading increased in the finance and insurance institutional sector (2.5%).
Domestic supply prices, which show price changes of domestically produced and imported goods sold in the country, rose 0.7% from the previous month. They climbed 13.2% from a year earlier, the highest in 3 years and 11 months since July 2022 (14.7%). That is because from May 15 the won-dollar exchange rate against the U.S. dollar topped 1,500 won.
Total output prices, which add exports to domestic shipments, rose 0.4% from the previous month. They increased 17.6% from a year earlier, the highest since statistics began in 2010. The rise was driven by a 0.4% increase in manufactured goods centered on exports of computers, electronics and optical equipment.