SEOUL, July 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's consumer price inflation slowed for the fifth successive month due to lower price for oil products, statistical office data showed on Tuesday.
The consumer price index (CPI) stood at 111.12 in June, up 2.7 percent from the same month of last year, according to Statistics Korea. The CPI growth fell below 3 percent in 21 months since September 2021.
The headline inflation continued to slow down this year from 5.2 percent in January to 4.8 percent in February, 4.2 percent in March, 3.7 percent in April and 3.3 percent in May.
Last month's slower inflation was driven by a sharp fall in oil products price.
Oil products price tumbled 25.4 percent in June, marking the fastest slide since relevant data began to be compiled in 1985. It kept a downward trend for the fifth consecutive month.
The cheaper oil products dragged down the overall inflation by 1.47 percentage points.
Prices for gasoline, diesel and liquified petroleum gas (LPG) diminished 23.8 percent, 32.5 percent and 15.3 percent each.
Price for industrial products, including oil products, rose 0.2 percent in June from a year earlier on higher processed food price.
Processed food price picked up 7.5 percent in June after going up 7.3 percent in the previous month.
Price for electricity, natural gas and tap water spiked 25.9 percent in June from a year earlier.
Electricity bill jumped 28.8 percent, while city gas and heating costs soared 29.0 percent and 36.6 percent each.
Price for agricultural, livestock and fishery products added 0.2 percent in June from a year earlier.
Agricultural and fishery products prices gained last month, but livestock products price slipped 4.9 percent.
Private services price, including eating-out cost, went up 5.0 percent in June from a year earlier after advancing 5.6 percent in the previous month. Public services price added 1.0 percent.
Expense for dining out climbed 6.3 percent, and the services price excluding the eating-out cost was up 4.1 percent.
Housing rent, including Jeonse and monthly rent, gained 0.5 percent in June, lower than an increase of 0.6 percent in the previous month.
Jeonse is South Korea's unique contract between two households where a landlord grants the two-year residential right to a tenant, who in turn lends a certain amount of money, or deposit, to the landlord.
The livelihood items index, which gauges price for daily necessities, increased 2.3 percent in June from a year earlier, after going up 3.2 percent in the prior month.
The fresh food index, which measures the price of fish, shellfish, fruit and vegetable, rose 3.7 percent in June, after adding 3.5 percent in the prior month.
The country's headline inflation remained high, topping the Bank of Korea (BOK)'s mid-term target of 2 percent for 27 months in a row.
The BOK forecast that the consumer price inflation would slow down in July before rebounding to around 3 percent by the end of this year.
Demand-side inflationary pressure hovered high. The core consumer price index, which excludes volatile agricultural and oil products, advanced 4.1 percent in June, surpassing the headline inflation of 2.7 percent.
The OECD-method core price, excluding volatile energy and food costs, was up 3.5 percent last month. ■
