South Korea's consumer prices grew less than 1 percent for the 11th month in a row in October, a government report showed Tuesday, as Asia's fourth-largest economy tries to shake off deflation concerns.
  

The country's consumer price index gained 0.9 percent last month from a year earlier, the report by Statistics Korea showed. The latest number marks a gain from 0.6 percent on-year growth reported for September and the sharpest increase since the 1 percent growth tallied for November 2014.
  

"Weak international crude prices and corresponding minus growth in utility prices, such as gas, electricity and water, are continuing to exert a downward pull on overall inflation numbers compared with the year before," said Woo Young-jae, head of the statistical agency's prices statistics division.
  

He, however, said that inflation numbers did move up because of the rise in various farm produce prices, rent-related costs and the rise in public transportation fares.
  

Oil product prices plunged 18.6 percent on-year last month, while gas, electricity and water charges dropped 7.2 percent.
  

Prices of industrial goods were down 0.3 percent compared with the year before affected by lower production costs and weaker demand.
  

In contrast, farm produce prices that include meat and fish advanced a solid 3 percent on-year last month. Data showed that prices of beef shot up 12.2 percent.
  

Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food prices, increased 2.3 percent compared with last year. This is a gain of 0.2 percent from the month before.
  

October marked the 10th straight month that core inflation grew by more than 2 percent on-year, the statistical office said.
  

In the service sector, prices gained 2.1 percent in October from the year before and were up 0.2 percent vis-a-vis September. The monthly increase was attributed to the 2.8 percent jump in rent prices, as well as gains in both public and private service costs.
  

The statistical service said last month's "living necessities" price index, which measures the cost of key products that people consume on a daily basis, edged up 0.1 percent on-year in the one-month period.
  

The rebound marks the first time this year that the index has moved back into positive territory. Growth numbers that had moved up since the government started releasing the index in 1995 have been losing steam after August of last year and have been in negative territory since January.
  

The finance ministry said supply-side factors, such as low crude oil prices, continued to keep the country's consumer inflation low, pointing out a drop in oil prices pushed down inflation by 0.92 percentage point last month.
  

Despite weak overall prices, the country's expected inflation rate released by the Bank of Korea stood at 2.5 percent in October, unchanged from the month before, it said. This rate is a barometer of future inflation as predicted by economic factors.
  

The ministry also noted that international crude prices that stood above US$100 per barrel until the third quarter of last year started to fall in the last three months. This, it claimed, will ease the high base effect that has played a key part in depressing inflation numbers this year.
  

"Going towards the end of the year, the easing of the high base effect for oil prices should cause consumer price numbers to move up," it said.
  

The ministry, meanwhile, said it plans to keep close tabs on all factors that can influence inflation and prevent any sudden spikes that can directly impact the everyday lives of ordinary people. (Yonhap)