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South Korea had the fourth-highest food price increase rate among 37 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in January, primarily due to bird flu's impact on agricultural production.
Prices for groceries and nonalcoholic beverages in South Korea surged 6.5 percent on-year, more than two times the 3.1 percent average among OECD nations.
Among OECD members, only Turkey, Chile, and Iceland had steeper prices, which recorded 18.1 percent, 7.8 percent, and 6.7 percent price hikes.
South Korea’s food price inflation worsened in February to a 9.7 percent on-year increase, its fastest gain since the 11.2 percent increase in August 2011.
Chive prices increased by a record 227.5 percent on-year last month while the apple prices jumped 55.2 percent on-year.
Meanwhile, the cost of eggs, red pepper flakes, and pork all surged 41.7 percent, 35 percent, and 18 percent.
Due to the on-year price hikes, the consumer price increase rate rose from 0.6 percent in January to 1.1 percent last month.
Jung Kyu-chul, economic outlook director at the Korea Development Institute, forecast that food prices would slightly increase between April and May if the petroleum prices increased. He added that there was a limited possibility that inflation would sharply increase in the short term as farm product shortages would ease in the spring.
