S Korea's April import prices jump 19% on higher oil price

South Korea's import prices jumped 19 percent on-year in April as higher oil prices outweighed the local currency's ascent to the U.S. dollar, the central bank said Monday.


In local currency terms, the country's import prices soared 19 percent last month from a year earlier, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a monthly report. From the previous month, import prices rose 0.7 percent in April.


The April import price growth slowed a bit from the 27-month high on-year expansion of 19.6 percent tallied for March, but marked the 13 straight months of on-year advance.


The higher import price growth was attributable to rising prices of oil products caused by higher oil prices despite the South Korean won's appreciation against the greenback, the BOK said.


Prices of raw materials surged 36.8 percent on-year in April, up from a 35.8 percent on-year expansion registered for March, according to the BOK. From the previous month, commodity import prices gained 4.6 percent.


The intermediate goods prices climbed 10.8 percent in April from a year earlier, but fell 1.8 percent from the previous month as prices decline in most items, including chemical and steel products, overshadowing price increases in oil products, the BOK said.


From the previous month, prices of capital and consumer goods fell 2.9 percent and 1.9 percent in April respectively.


In U.S. dollar terms, import prices jumped 21.2 percent last month from a year earlier, higher than a 19 percent gain in the local currency-based prices, indicating that the South Korean won rose a bit against the dollar.
(Source:http://news.xinhuanet.com)