South Korean household food expenditures grew at the fastest clip ever in the second quarter amid record-high spending on car fuel, stoked by runaway food and energy costs, data showed Sunday.

Household spending on food and non-alcoholic beverages jumped 8.9 percent on-year to a monthly average of 320,690 won ($295.7) in the April-June period, according to the data by Statistics Korea.

The on-year growth rate was the highest since the second quarter of 2003, when the statistical agency started to track related data.

Especially, household spending on meat surged at the fastest ever rate of 14.7 percent during the period, leading the overall increase.

In the three-month period, household expenditures for car fuel such as gasoline and diesel rose 7.1 percent from a year ago to a monthly average of 127,675 won, an all-time record, according to the data.

The sharp growth in household food expenditures comes as South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, remains dogged by high inflation.

South Korea’s consumer prices rose 4.7 percent last month from a year earlier, quickening from the previous month’s 4.4 percent gain. The figure represents the sev enth straight month that consumer prices have grown over the government’s renewed annual inflation target of 4 percent for the year.

Core inflation, excluding volatile oil and food costs, also jumped 3.8 percent from a year earlier, up from a 3.7 percent increase in June and the largest gain in 26 months. 

(Yonhap News)