Korea supermarket retail salad vegetables

korea

A spike in the cost of fruit and vegetables in South Korea has driven the highest increases in the price of agricultural, forestry and fisheries products in the country since June 1981.

Bloomberg reported today (Monday) the price of these products increased in September by 30 per cent on the previous year. This has resulted largely from a jump of 126 per cent in the cost of vegetables, while the price of fruit rose 58 per cent.

“The Bank of Korea will likely raise rates in October as policy makers face more calls to curb rising price pressures,” Lee Sang Jae, an economist at Hyundai Securities, told Bloomberg.

The cost of industrial goods, which include textiles, oil, plastics and computers, was also up but saw an increase of just 3.6 per cent. Meanwhile electricity, water and gas prices gained 3.7 per cent, and services costs rose 1.2 per cent.