SeoulMarkets · tag
inflation
6 stories tagged “inflation”, each from official Korean data with its source and timestamp.
Korea CPI: mobile fee jumped 26.7%, rest flat
Korea's August CPI rose 3.09% year-on-year. The 'telecom base effect' two papers cited sits almost entirely in one line: the mobile phone fee index, up 26.74% — while landline and internet fees barely moved.
Korea's import bill rose 18% — but rubber jumped 96% and sugar fell 12%
Korea's won-priced import index rose 18.4% over the year to July 2026 — on average. Behind it: synthetic rubber +96% and fuels near +77%, while sugar and dairy fell. The won moved everything alike; the spread is the goods.
Korea's real wages climbed for a decade, then went flat
Korea's real monthly wage rose ~24% from 2011 to 2021 — then stalled. In the four years since, it is up just 0.2%. The 2020s look nothing like the 2010s.
The won, not the goods, drove much of Korea's imported inflation
Over the year to July 2026 Korea's import prices rose 18.4% in won but only 11.1% in contract currency. The 7-point gap is the exchange rate, not dearer goods. A March commodity spike lifted all gauges, then partly eased. Not advice.
Korea's producer prices rose 7.7% — its chip prices tripled
The headline producer price index barely moved. Underneath, chip prices rose 315% and memory 291% in a year while forest and vegetable prices fell 20-35%. The 7.7% average hides a violent split. Not advice.
Korea's import prices rose 9% in the seller's currency and 20% in won. The gap is the exchange rate.
Priced in the currency each contract is written in, Korea's imports cost 9.1% more over the year to June. In won they cost 19.7% more. The 33-point gap between the two indices is not the goods getting dearer — it is the won getting weaker.