Last August, consumer prices rose 2.0% from a year earlier. This is the fifth consecutive month of increases in the 2% range.

According to the consumer price trend announced by Statistics Korea on the 3rd, the consumer price index in August rose 2.0% year-on-year to 114.54 (2020 = 100).

The consumer price inflation rate has been in the 2% range for five months. It rose to 3.1% in February and March, but has fallen back to the 2% range since April (2.9%).

The August increase was the lowest in three years and five months, since 1.9% in March 2021.

By item, industrial product prices rose 1.4%, raising overall prices by 0.47 percentage points (p). Agricultural, livestock, and fishery products rose 2.4%, contributing 0.19 percentage points to prices.

The fresh food index, which is related to the ‘food price’, rose by 3.2%, showing a sharp decrease in the increase compared to the previous year (7.7%). The living cost index rose by 2.1%, showing a slowdown compared to the previous month (3.0%).

The OECD-style core inflation index, which excludes food and energy, rose 2.1%, down 0.1 percentage point from the previous month (2.2%).

Hong Min-seong, Hankyung.com reporter mshong@hankyung.com