S. Korea faces worst trade terms ever in April amid soaring oil, commodity prices

None
None
SEOUL. KAZINFORM - South Korea's terms of trade hit the worst point ever in April as import prices rose at a fast pace due to surging costs of buying oil and commodities, central bank data showed Friday, Yonhap reports.

The nation's net terms-of-trade index for goods -- a gauge of overall trade terms -- stood at 83.78 last month, down 11.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). From a month earlier, it was also down 4.2 percent.

The figure is calculated by dividing the index for export prices by that for import prices. It shows the amount of imports a country can buy for each unit of exports.

The April figure was the lowest ever since relevant data began to be compiled in January 1988, the central bank said. It was also the 13th straight month that the index has worsened on a year-on-year basis.

The worsening trade terms were due to fast-rising import prices driven mostly by the ongoing war in Ukraine that has exasperated the global supply chain disruptions. South Korea depends heavily on imports for energy needs.

Import prices jumped 25.9 percent on-year in April, while export prices grew 11.9 percent over the same period, the data showed.


Currently reading