SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s export and import prices rose at slower paces in October, with the latter softening to a 15-month low, central bank data showed on Tuesday.
The country’s export prices, in terms of the won currency, rose 13.7% in October from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea’s provisional data, slower than a revised 14.7% rise in the previous month.
Import prices also rose at a slower annual rate of 19.8%, compared with a revised 24.2% gain in September, and it marked the slowest rate since July 2021.
The slowdown came despite higher oil prices and a weaker currency than in the previous month, with Dubai oil prices and dollar-won exchange rates rising 0.2% and 2.5% on monthly average, respectively, according to the BOK.
In October 2021, export and import prices jumped 26.1% and 36.3%, respectively, marking their fastest annual growth rates in more than 13 years.
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee, Editing by William Maclean)