Producer prices snap 3-month rise in April

A person stands in front of a fan stand at a discount store in Seoul on Sunday. [YONHAP]

Korea's producer prices ended three consecutive months of growth in April, as prices of agricultural products and utilities decreased, central bank data showed Thursday.

The producer price index, a major barometer of consumer inflation, fell 0.1 percent in April from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.

It followed a 0.4 percent gain in January, a 0.2 percent on-month advance in February and a 0.1 percent on-month rise in March.

From a year earlier, the index rose 1.6 percent.

The on-month fall is attributed to a 1.8 percent slide in the prices of agricultural goods, and a 2.8 percent dip in the prices of electricity and gas.

Producer prices are one of the key indicators that determine the trajectory of inflation, as they influence the prices that businesses charge to consumers in the months ahead.

Korea's consumer prices grew at the slowest pace in more than a year in April on falling global oil prices, in the latest signal that inflation has receded.

Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, rose 3.7 percent last month from a year earlier, compared with a 4.2 percent on-year rise in March, marking the first time in 14 months that the on-year inflation growth fell below 4 percent.

Yonhap