Korea's producer prices drop at fastest pace in over 3 yrs in Nov.

By Yonhap

Published : Dec. 21, 2018 - 09:20

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South Korea's producer prices dropped at the fastest clip in more than three years in November on sagging crude oil prices, central bank data showed Friday.

The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, reached 104.67 last month, down 0.7 percent from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.

It is the sharpest on-month decline since October 2015, when the index lost 0.7 percent.

(Yonhap)

Also, the producer price index went south for the second consecutive month, following a 0.4 percent fall in October, the first on-month decline in some 10 months.

On a year-on-year basis, it rose 1.6 percent to extend its positive streak for the 25th-straight month since November 2016.

The BOK said a decrease in crude prices dragged down the country's producer price index last month. Asia's fourth-largest economy imports almost all of its crude oil.

The benchmark Dubai crude averaged $65.6 in November, down 17.4 percent from $79.9 a month earlier.

But the November average was still 7.8 percent higher than last year's $60.8.

As a result, prices of industrial goods, petrochemicals and gas plunged 8.2 percent on-month, while the price index for the service sector edged down 0.1 percent. (Yonhap)

Korea's producer prices drop at fastest pace in over 3 yrs in Nov.

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