S Korea sees decrease in producer prices for 2nd consecutive month

• Source: Xinhua
• [16:31 July 09 2009]
• Comments

South Korea saw a fall in producer prices for a second straight month in June mainly due to cheaper oil prices and sluggish domestic demand, the central bank said Thursday.

According to the Bank of Korea (BOK), the producer price index, an indicator to help forecast future consumer inflation, logged anon-year 3.1 percent decline in June, while it earned 1.3 percent annually the previous month.

The June decline marks the largest monthly drop since June 1999 when the figure hit a contraction of 3.2 percent, the BOK said.

The fall in June was contributed by a decline in oil prices and sluggish domestic demand, a BOK official said, adding that a surge in crude prices a year ago pulled up producer prices at the time.