South Korea suffers inflation surges on food prices

South Korea consumer prices rose by 4.1 percent last month because of  a shortage of agricultural products caused the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) epidemic.

The lack of pork caused by a massive culling of pigs in the country due to FMD led to a 15.1 percent rise in pork prices. With that rise, the price of substitute meats such as chicken and beef also increased. The price of chicken climbed 8.3 percent, while the price for imported beef increased by 5.8 percent.

“The price is not going to stabilize until May when the supply of agricultural products is expected to recover,” Yoon said.

Food prices in South Korea jumped 10.6 percent in December from a year earlier, higher than the OECD average of 2.6 percent, OECD data shows.  Estonia topped the list at 12.2 percent. Hungary came out third with with 7.6 percent.

President Myung-Bak Lee said in a television interview the government is preparing a set of policies to curb inflation, to be announced later this month, JoongAng Ilbo reported.