S. Korea`s producer prices dip for 6th month in Oct.

SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's producer prices fell for the sixth
straight month in October due to lower oil prices and the local currency's rise
against the U.S. dollar, the central bank said Monday.
The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, declined 3.1
percent in October from a year earlier, compared with a 2.6 percent on-year fall
the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
Compared with the previous month, the index dipped 0.8 percent in October, mainly
due to a fall in prices of agricultural and fishery products and the won's
ascent. It marked the first monthly decline since June, the BOK said.
"The continued on-year drop in producer prices came mainly because lower oil
costs pulled down prices of manufactured goods and the local currency gained
strength to the greenback," a BOK official said.
Oil prices were trading at above US$75 per barrel after peaking at $147 per
barrel in July 2008. South Korea, the world's fifth-largest crude buyer, relies
entirely on imports for its oil needs.
The Korean currency rose an average of about 13 percent versus the dollar in
October, compared with a year ago. Meanwhile, it climbed 3.7 percent to the
greenback last month, compared with September.
The data came three days before the central bank holds a monthly rate-setting
meeting. The BOK is widely expected to freeze its key interest rate at a record
low of 2 percent for the ninth straight month on Thursday as a nascent economic
recovery has yet to prove sustainable amid tamed inflation.
It cut the rate by a total of 3.25 percentage points between October last year
and February in an effort to bolster the slowing economy.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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