SEOUL: South Korea’s consumer prices slowed to an 11-month low in June, though prices of fresh food items and petroleum products remained high, data shows.

Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, rose 2.4% on-year last month, compared with a 2.7% on-year rise a month earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

It was the third consecutive month that prices decelerated and stayed below 3%, and June’s figure marked the lowest level since July 2023, when consumer prices grew 2.4%.

In January, inflation fell below 3% for the first time since July 2023 to come to 2.8%, but it rose back to 3.1% in February and stayed at the same level the following month before falling to 2.9% in April.

Inflation in June was led by high prices of farm produce, particularly fruits.

Prices of agricultural, livestock and fisheries products went up 6.5%t on the same period a year earlier.

Agricultural products, in particular, spiked 13.3%, which accounted for a 0.49 percentage-point increase in overall inflation.

Of major items, prices of apples soared 63.1%, and prices of pears surged by a record level of 139.6%.

Prices of dried seaweed jumped 28.6% on-year in June, logging the sharpest increase since December 1987.

Agency officials said the country is experiencing a supply shortage of fruits.

They said that was due to poor harvests last year and unfavourable weather conditions, and added that such high prices are expected to continue for some time to come.

Prices of petroleum products rose 4.3% on-year in June, accelerating from the previous month’s 3.1% growth, due to a base effect and instability in global oil prices over the Middle East crisis.

 - ANN