South Korea import prices fall in Feb for first time in two years

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s import prices for February fell in annual terms for the first time in two years on weaker oil prices, central bank data showed on Tuesday.

The country’s import price index, in terms of the local won currency, stood 0.5% lower in February than in the same month a year earlier, after a 1.9% rise in January, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It was the first annual decline since February 2021 and the biggest percentage fall in 25 months.

Dragging the index lower, Dubai oil prices were on average 11.1% lower in February than the year before, according to the BOK.

The export price index fell 2.7%, faster than 1.2% in the previous month and the fastest since December 2020.

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)