Import Price Index in South Korea

Measures the change in the price of goods imported into South Korea, expressed in won. Published by the Bank of Korea, it is a leading gauge of imported inflation from energy, commodities and intermediate goods.

A Laspeyres-type index (2020=100) compiled by the Bank of Korea from a broad sample of imported items priced in won. The headline figure is the year-on-year change (%), with a month-on-month reading also released.

Because it is measured in won, it foreshadows the cost pressures that energy, commodities and a weaker won pass through to producer and consumer prices. A rising print strengthens the case for tighter Bank of Korea policy.

Being won-denominated, it blends the move in the underlying price with the exchange rate, making it volatile and highly sensitive to energy and to the won; it does not separate the currency effect from the price effect.