S. Korea's imports rise in March on high international oil prices, domestic fruit prices

3월 수입물가지수 유가 상승에 석 달째 오름세

Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and unfavorable weather conditions have driven up overseas oil prices and fruit prices at home in South Korea.
This has led to a surge in imports for March --with inbound shipments of some tropical fruits at record highs.
Our Moon Hye-ryeon has the details.

High international oil prices and domestic fruit prices drove up South Korea’s imports in March.
Preliminary data released by the Bank of Korea on Tuesday showed that the country’s import price index rose point-4 percent compared to the month before.
It’s the third month in a row that an on-month increase has been recorded.
By category, raw materials including mining products saw the biggest hike, with oil import prices jumping by 4 percent from February.
Crude oil prices have surged due to heightened tensions in the Middle East – rising to nearly 85 U.S. dollars a barrel in March and surpassing 90 dollars earlier this month.
A spokesperson from the central bank added that in light of the upward trend in oil prices, the import index for April could also see a rise.
Recent data from the Korea Customs Service also showed that fruit imports saw a large jump last month, with the total import value of pineapples and mangoes being the highest ever on record.
Pineapple imports came to nearly 8-point-7 million U.S. dollars while mango imports came to just over 24-point-7 million dollars.
Orange and banana imports too, saw a significant rise with the total value of inbound shipments for each reaching the highest level in nearly 5 years and 3 years respectively.
This comes as unfavorable weather conditions led to a surge in domestic fruit prices over the past few months, prompting the government to pledge reduced import tariffs on a record number of different types of fruit.
Meanwhile, the country’s exports saw an on-month climb of point-4 percent in March, which is the third straight month that the country’s export price index has risen.
Chemical goods as well as computing and electronic goods drove up exports, with higher prices for memory chips contributing greatly to this upward tick.
The BOK explained that semiconductor prices saw an on-month rise of 1-point-3 percent, and an on-year rise of 18-point-9 percent.
Moon Hye-ryeon, Arirang News.

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2024-04-16, 12:00 (KST)