[THE INVESTOR] Credit card spending in South Korea rose 7.7 percent on-year in September affected by the increasing prices of agricultural products, according to data on Oct. 27.

South Koreans usually spend more before and during the Chuseok holiday, one of the largest annual celebrations. Chuseok fell on Sept. 15 this year.

This year, especially, a record hot spell drove up the prices of agricultural, livestock and fishery products.

The nation’s consumer prices rose 1.2 percent in September from a year earlier, the highest since March. Those of agricultural, livestock and fishery products soared 10.2 percent.

According to the Credit Finance Association‘s research center, credit card spending totaled 61.03 trillion won (US$53 billion) during the month, up 9.1 percent from a year earlier. The number of credit card payments also rose 13.2 percent to 1.34 billion.

Affected by the price hikes, individual credit card purchases, excluding utility bill payment, rose 7.7 percent to 43.6 trillion won.

But corporate card use dropped 3.8 percent to 9.5 trillion won due to less working days.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)