Raw material prices fall last month
Prices of raw materials and intermediate goods dropped for the second straight month in December, boding well for the nation's efforts to rein in on inflation, the Bank of Korea said yesterday.A leading indicator of inflation, - the prices of raw materials and intermediate goods - declined 0.8 percent in December from the previous month. But prices of final products inched up 0.3 percent, rising for the fifth consecutive month, the central bank said.In a report on the processing-stage price movements, the BOK said that the prices of raw materials sank 5.5 percent last month due to a fall in the prices of crude oil lumber and other imported raw materials.
Prices of raw materials and intermediate goods dropped for the second straight month in December, boding well for the nation's efforts to rein in on inflation, the Bank of Korea said yesterday.A leading indicator of inflation, - the prices of raw materials and intermediate goods - declined 0.8 percent in December from the previous month. But prices of final products inched up 0.3 percent, rising for the fifth consecutive month, the central bank said.In a report on the processing-stage price movements, the BOK said that the prices of raw materials sank 5.5 percent last month due to a fall in the prices of crude oil lumber and other imported raw materials.
The prices of lumber and petroleum products dropped 2.4 percent and 0.2 percent each in December from the previous month. However, chemical and primary metal products saw their prices go up 0.2 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.Thanks to the depreciation of the Korean currency against the euro, the prices of capital goods and imported machinery remained the same last month, but those of consumer goods edged up 0.5 percent due to a rise in the prices of farm products.
The central bank said that the price index of raw materials, intermediate goods and final products also fell 0.4 percent last month from November last year.For the whole of 2002, the price index inched down 0.3 percent on-year, with the prices of raw materials falling 1.3 percent. However, prices of finished products climbed 1.2 percent."Overall prices of goods fell slightly last year thanks to the appreciation of the won against the dollar, helping stabilize the prices of imported products," the BOK said. "But the prices of farm and livestock products jumped last year from the previous year."