South Korea’s producer price inflation slows to near 2-year low

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s producer price inflation slowed for a seventh straight month to its lowest in 22 months, central bank data showed on Thursday.

The producer price index rose 5.1% in January from a year earlier, while it had climbed 5.8% in December, according to the Bank of Korea. It was the slowest annual rise since March 2021.

The annual rate continued its slowing trend for a seventh straight month, after hitting a near 14-year high of 10.0% in June 2022.

The index rose 0.4% over a month, however, after two straight months of declines, driven mostly by higher utility costs.

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)