S. Korea's import price growth eases in May

South Korea's import prices grew at a slower pace in May than in the previous month as a fall in global raw material prices drove down agricultural and oil bills, the central bank said Wednesday.
In local currency terms, the country's import prices increased 13.2 percent last month from a year earlier, slowing from a 19 percent on-year advance in April, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
Compared with the previous month, import prices slipped 2.3 percent in May, a turnaround from a 0.7 percent on-month gain tallied in April and the first on-month decline since October 2010.
According to the BOK, raw material import prices slipped 4.4 percent in May from April due largely to a fall in prices of agricultural goods -- such as corn and raw cotton -- and crude oil.
Prices of intermediary products -- including oil and steel products -- dipped 1.1 percent last month from April, said the BOK.
Meanwhile, export prices in Korean won terms rose 3.3 percent last month from a year earlier, slowing from a 7.7 percent gain in April, due to lower raw material costs and the local currency's strength, the BOK noted.
Amid persistent inflationary pressure, the BOK raised the key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 3.25 percent on Friday.