S. Korea's import prices fall for 4th month in July

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's import prices in local-currency terms
dropped for the fourth month in July due mainly to lower crude prices, the
central bank said Sunday.
Won-based prices for imported goods and materials tumbled 12.9 percent last month
from a year earlier, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a report. From the previous
month, prices remained unchanged.
"Cheaper oil prices were the main force behind the falling import prices," BOK
official Lim Su-young said. "But a weaker local currency offset slumping prices
to some extent."
According to the BOK, the price of Dubai crude, South Korea's benchmark, slumped
50.5 percent on-year to around US$65 per barrel in July. South Korea is the
world's fifth-largest oil importer.
The South Korean won, meanwhile, was down 22 percent to the U.S. dollar last
month year-on-year.
Won-based export prices, meanwhile, declined 2.7 percent from a year earlier last
month, compared with a 3.3-percent fall the previous month, the central bank
said.
pbr@yna.co.kr
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