Consumer prices in Korea climbed one-point-three percent last month... mainly due to price increases of agricultural products.
Kim Ji-yeon breaks down the digits for us.
Consumer prices in Korea saw on-year increases in the one-percent range for the sixth straight month in March.
Statistics Korea says its consumer price index jumped one-point-three percent on-year.
This is mainly due to price increases of agricultural products which spiked by a whopping four-point-seven percent compared to the previous year.
In particular, the prices of grain, including the country's staple food rice, rose by more than 20-percent... the steepest rate of increase since June 1996.
An official from the statistics agency says however that price increases of vegetables has slowed compared to the previous month as the weather has got warmer.
Fisheries product prices on the other hand rose by more than 5-percent on-year in March.
The core inflation rate, which excludes volatile food and oil prices, also jumped by one-point-three percent on-year.
The prices of service fees increased as hiring fees for housekeepers climbed 11-percent in March on-year, the sharpest rate of increase since December 2007.
Food and beverage prices in eateries and bars also rose by two-and-a-half-percent on-year in March.
An official from the statistics agency says however that it's not clear whether that's mainly due to the 16-point-4-percent increase in the minimum wage this year, currently at around seven U.S. dollars an hour.
Kim Ji-yeon, Arirang News.