SEOUL– South Korea’s terms of trade worsened to the lowest level in more than nine years in March as import prices rose at a fast pace due mainly to rising costs of buying oil and commodities, central bank data showed Thursday.
The nation’s net terms-of-trade index for goods — a gauge of overall trade terms — stood at 87.3 last month, down 6.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).
This marked the 12th straight month that the index has declined on-year since April when it fell 0.6 percent. It also represented the worst level since November 2022, when the index stood at 86.88.
The BOK said the worsened trade terms were due to fast-rising import prices amid global supply disruptions and the war in Ukraine. South Korea depends heavily on imports for its energy needs.
Import prices jumped 22.2 percent on-year in March, while export prices grew 14.5 percent over the same period, the data showed.
Source: Yonhap News Agency