Seoul: South Korea's producer prices were nearly unchanged from a month earlier in March amid falling global oil prices, central bank data showed Tuesday. The producer price index, a major barometer of consumer inflation, reached 120.32 last month, compared with 120.33 in February.
According to Yonhap News Agency, on a yearly basis, the index rose 1.3 percent last month, marking the 20th consecutive month of on-year increase. The Bank of Korea (BOK) noted that rising agricultural and other food prices offset a decline in the price of petroleum products driven by a drop in global oil prices. The average price of Dubai crude, South Korea's benchmark, fell 7 percent from a month earlier to an average of US$72.49 per barrel in March, government data showed.
Producer prices are one of the key indicators that determine the trajectory of inflation, as they influence the prices businesses charge consumers in the months ahead. The domestic supply price index, which is calculated based on producer prices and import prices, climbed 0.1 percent on-month in March, marking the sixth monthly rise in a row, the data showed.
Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, rose 2.1 percent from a year earlier in March, accelerating from a 2 percent on-year increase in February. The central bank forecast consumer prices to grow 1.9 percent annually in 2025.