SEOUL, KOREA - The May producer prices have fallen for eight consecutive months, largely due to a decline in primary product prices including that for oil. According to the Bank of Korea on June 18, the producer prices in the month of May fell 2.6 percent from the same month last year. Except in April when the prices declined 2.8 percent, this is the largest fall since October 2009 when the prices dropped 3.1 percent.
On month-on-month basis, the producer prices went down 0.4 percent for three straight months. By item, primary metal products (-11.9%) led the pack as the prices of scrap iron (-18.5%) and copper plates (-17.3%) saw the largest drop. Gasoline (-10.3%) and bunker C fuel oil (-15.2%) also fell by a large margin.
Kim Min-soo, BOK manager in charge of price statistics, said, "Comparing to the same month in 2012, the dollar exchange rate fell slightly vis-a-vis the won while oil prices remaining at low level."
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