South Korea’s consumer prices gained 1.3 percent in November on year to keep up strengthening streak of above 1 percent threshold for the third consecutive month due to spike in fresh food prices from climate disruptions and service charges.

According to data released by Statistics Korea Thursday, the nation’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.3 percent last month from a year earlier following the same pace gain in October that had been the biggest year-on-year rise since February. The headline inflation index had stayed depressed under 1 percent from May to August.

The prices of agricultural, livestock and fishery products soared 7.9 percent from the previous year, bumping up the CPI by 0.57 percentage point. Prices of farm produces jumped 9.6 percent on year, affecting the headline inflation by 0.35 percentage point. The core inflation excluding oil and farm produces gained 1.4 percent on year, the lowest gain since December 2014.

Prices for living necessaries rose 1.1 percent from a year earlier, highest since July 2014, as food prices gained 3.7 percent from a year ago period. The fresh food index that includes vegetables, fruits and fish jumped 15.0 percent on year due to summer heat wave resulting in poorer yield. November-December is the traditional “gimjang” period when Korean households make Kimchi in large sum to stock up, generating high demand for fresh vegetables.

Service prices rose 1.8 percent on year, lifting the headline CPI by 1.0 percentage point. Utilities prices plunged 6.4 percent on year but fell at slower pace compared to previous month as the global oil price made a rebound and drove up the prices for petroleum-related and gas products.

“Agricultural prices rose as vegetable prices jumped but the year-on-year spike is also augmented by the base effect as prices of fresh vegetables had been low during the same period last year, “said Woo Young-jae from Statistics Korea.

By Boo Jang-won

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