South Korea's Inflation Eases to 2.8% in July, Back Under 3% for the First Time Since April

South Korea's consumer prices rose 2.8% year-on-year in July 2026, the country's Ministry of Data and Statistics reported on August 4 — a slowdown from June's 3.2% and the first reading back under 3% since April, following prints of 3.1% in May and 3.2% in June. The consumer price index itself stood at 119.77 (base year 2020=100) for the month.

The slowdown was driven mainly by fading fuel-price pressure. Petroleum product prices were still 15.5% higher than a year earlier, but that was well below June's 24.7% annual increase, with diesel (+21.5%), gasoline (+12.6%) and kerosene (+20.5%) all rising more slowly than the month before. Agricultural product prices actually fell 2.2% year-on-year, with vegetable prices down 4.2%, adding further relief on the food side.

Underlying price measures eased only slightly. The index excluding volatile agricultural and petroleum products rose 2.5% year-on-year, and a second core measure that strips out food and energy — the OECD-method core rate — came in at 2.6%. The living-cost index, which tracks prices for everyday household necessities, rose 2.5% annually, while the fresh-food index (fish, shellfish, fruit and vegetables) fell 2.3%.

Core price pressure has stayed above the Bank of Korea's medium-term 2% target for most of the past year, though the exact length of that streak is unconfirmed — independent reporting suggests inflation briefly touched near 2% around January-February 2026 before reaccelerating in May and June. South Korea's statistics function was reorganized out of the former Statistics Korea (KOSTAT) into the Ministry of Data and Statistics in September 2025; this report is issued under that ministry's authority.