August Import Prices Rise While Export Prices Fall...Terms of Trade May Worsen

SEOUL, KOREA- Korea's August import prices rose 0.7 percent from the previous month, the Bank of Korea said on September 11. The upward trend in import prices was largely due to a rise in international primary goods such as oil despite the favorable movement in the won-dollar exchange rate.For example, the August average per-barrel price of Dubai Crude was US$107.06, up 3.4 percent from July.

In contrast, the export prices in the same month fell 0.7 percent, continuing the descent for two consecutive months, led by declines in farm and forestry goods (-0.3%) and manufactured goods (-0.7%). Of the manufactured goods, the prices of primary metals rose while those for semiconductors, electronic instrumentations, communications, imaging, and audio devices showed weakness.

Lee Hyun-young, BOK manager in charge of price statistics, said, "Although the month of August exhibited an unusual pattern of import prices rising while export prices falling, it is too early to tell whether this pattern is going to last."

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