Korea export prices jump 3.7% on FX

Dec 12, 2025, 09:25 am

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Source: Bank of Korea

South Korea’s export and import prices continued to climb in November, largely driven by a higher won-dollar exchange rate, the central bank said on December 12.

The Bank of Korea said export prices rose 3.7% from the previous month as the won weakened against the dollar, while prices for items such as computers, electronic and optical equipment increased.

By category, prices for manufactured goods rose 3.7% month on month, led by gains in computers, electronic and optical equipment as well as coal and petroleum products. Agricultural, forestry and fishery products rose 0.9%.

The rise was attributed in part to persistent dollar strength. The average won-dollar exchange rate in November stood at 1,457.77 won per dollar, up 2.4% from 1,423.36 won in October.

Import prices also increased, rising 2.6% from the previous month despite a decline in international oil prices. Prices rose across all major groups, including raw materials, intermediate goods, capital goods and consumer goods.

Lee Moon-hee, a price statistics official at the Bank of Korea’s Economic Statistics Department, said the exchange rate impact becomes clearer when comparing export and import price indexes with those calculated in contract currencies that exclude the dollar’s influence. “The gap is about 2.2 percentage points for export prices and 2.0 percentage points for import prices,” she said, “which roughly reflects the extent to which the won-dollar rate affected export and import prices.”

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