S. Korea's terms of trade hits 3 yr-low in Feb.

SEOUL, March 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's terms of trade dropped to a three-year low in February as a sharp rise in import costs was offset by a slight gain in export prices, central bank data showed Friday.

The terms of trade index for products came to 97.53 last month, down 3 percent from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It marked the lowest figure since the index stood at 95.99 in January 2015.

The index measures the amount of imports a country can purchase for each unit of exports and shows how the country's exports are doing in comparison to those of other countries.

In February, export prices added 5.1 percent from a year ago, while import prices jumped 8.4 percent on-year, added the BOK data.

The income terms of trade fell 3.9 percent on-year to 129.09 last month, the central bank said.

brk@yna.co.kr
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