September consumer price increase rate recorded 2.9%... Decline in agricultural products, increase in petroleum and durable goods

Last month, the consumer price inflation rate fell back to the 2% range.

The price of agricultural products fell due to increased fruit shipments due to Chuseok and government discount support, but the rate of increase in prices of livestock and marine products expanded.

Petroleum products continued to rise in the 14% range, and durable goods such as processed foods and computers showed increased increases.

According to the 'September Consumer Price Trends' announced by the National Data Agency on the 2nd, the consumer price index last month was 120.43 (2020 = 100), up 2.9% from the same month last year.

Due to the impact of the war in the Middle East, the consumer price inflation rate rose to 2.6% in April, 3.1% in May, and 3.2% in June, before falling slightly to 2.8% in July. Afterwards, it recorded 3.1% in August and then entered the 2% range last month.

Considering that consumer prices in August were around 2.5% when removing the base effect of rate discounts due to the hacking incident at SK Telecom [017670] last year, it can be said that the rate of increase in September has increased slightly.

The consumer price inflation rate has been significantly exceeding the Bank of Korea's price stability target (2.0%) for about half a year since the Middle East War.

By item, prices of agricultural, livestock and fishery products fell by 0.3% last month, lowering overall consumer prices by 0.03% points (p).

In particular, agricultural product prices fell 4.0% compared to a year ago, and their contribution to overall prices was -0.17%p. The decline was smaller than in August (-6.7%).

Fruit prices fell by 10.9%, and vegetable prices fell by 0.0%.

Apples (-9.2%), cabbage (-15.2%), peaches (-14.7%), and grapes (-10.3%) fell, but pumpkins soared 46.9%.

Lee Doo-won, an economic trend statistics examiner at the Data Center, said, "Fruit shipments increased due to the Chuseok holiday due to good harvests of apples and pears, and the decline in fruit sales widened. On the other hand, vegetable shipments decreased due to weather conditions, falling 9.7% in August and remaining flat in September."

Livestock products and marine products rose 3.7% and 4.5%, respectively. The increase expanded due to a decrease in supply and increased demand during the Chuseok holiday.

Director Lee explained that “government discount support also played a role” in relation to agricultural, livestock and fishery products.

Due to the increase in factory prices, the price of processed foods rose by 2.1%, increasing the rate of increase.

Petroleum prices jumped 14.8% compared to last year. It is an increase of 14% following August (14.2%).

The government said that the price increase rate in September was analyzed to have been lowered by 0.6 percentage points due to the maximum oil price system, and estimated that without the maximum price system, the consumer price increase rate in September would have reached 3.5%.

Due to the influence of semiconductor prices, computer prices jumped 27.4% and continued to rise in the 20% range, and mobile phone prices also rose 8.3% due to the influence of new products such as Galaxy and iPhone.

An official from Data Center said, “The increase in durable goods such as computers and mobile phones and processed foods has expanded, acting as a factor in raising core prices.”

The index excluding agricultural products and petroleum, which is a core price index, rose 2.7%. The index excluding food and energy, which is based on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), rose 2.8%.

The cost of living index, which shows the perceived cost of living based on frequently purchased items, rose 2.5%.

The fresh food index, which represents 'table prices', fell 3.3% compared to the same month last year.