South Korea's producer prices made an upturn in January amid rising oil and other raw material prices, central bank data showed Thursday.

The producer price index, a major barometer of consumer inflation, stood at 114.24 in January, up 0.9 percent from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

Producer prices remained flat in December after recording the 13th consecutive month of an increase.

Compared with a year earlier, producer prices climbed 8.7 percent, increasing for 14 months running but slowing from a 9 percent hike in December.

The central bank ascribed January's increase to high prices of commodities, including oil and coal, which drove up the costs of manufactured products 0.9 percent.

Coal and oil products saw their prices surge 5.2 percent on-month in January, while electricity and gas rates swelled 2.4 percent.

Prices of farming and fishery products also increased 3.7 percent and 2.1 percent over the same period, respectively, the data showed.

South Korea is grappling with quickening inflation amid global supply bottlenecks and rebounding consumption from a pandemic-caused slowdown.

The country's consumer prices rose 3.6 percent on-year in January due mainly to high oil prices, expanding more than 3 percent for the fourth consecutive month.

In mid-January, the BOK raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 1.25 percent, the third rate increase since August last year, in an effort to rein in rising inflation. (Yonhap)