Producer prices edge up in Feb.

SEOUL, March 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's producer prices edged up in February to hit a more than three-year high due to a sharp rise in prices of agriculture and fishery products during the Lunar New Year's holiday, central bank data showed Tuesday.

The producer price index -- a barometer of future consumer inflation -- reached 103.99 last month, up 0.4 percent from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The February figure marked the highest since November 2014, when numbers reached 104.13.

Year-on-year, the producer price index rose 1.3 percent in February, marking the 16th consecutive month of gains.

The index, which covers agricultural and fisheries goods such as vegetables and chicken, jumped to a 17-month high of 5.7 percent last month led by the cold weather and rising demand during the Lunar New Year's holiday that fell on Feb. 15-18.

Prices of petrochemicals rose 0.8 percent in February from a month earlier, while prices of metal products climbed 0.5 percent during the same period. The service prices of restaurants and hotels rose 0.6 percent last month from January.

brk@yna.co.kr
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