SEOUL, South Korea's vice agricultural minister on Thursday asked local food makers to refrain from raising price tags on their products as the government seeks to tame inflation amid the growing concerns over the Israel-Hamas war.
"We ask food makers to proactively cooperate with the government's efforts to stabilize prices, and refrain from raising prices by taking advantage of hikes in costs of some materials," Vice Agricultural Minister Han Hoon said during a meeting with major local firms, including CJ Cheiljedang Corp.
The meeting came in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, which is expected to spark greater volatility in global oil prices, eventually putting upward pressure on overall consumer prices.
Prices of processed foodstuffs rose 5.8 percent on-year in September, slightly slowing from a 6.8 percent hike tallied in July, according to the ministry's data.
The government plans to implement additional tariff-rate quotas on imports of materials that are anticipated to experience supply instability while also expanding its support for the procurement of such goods, he added.
The tariff-rate quota is a system under which products are imported with favorable duty conditions within a designated volume. The amount imported beyond the limit is applied with higher tariffs.
South Korea's on-year consumer prices accelerated by the most in five months in September, driven by higher oil costs and rising prices of some farm goods.
Prices of agricultural and fishery products moved up 3.7 percent on-year in the month, with price tags on apples and rice soaring 54.8 percent and 14.5 percent, respectively.
Source: Yonhap News Agency