SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- South Koreas consumer prices rose 2 percent in January from a year earlier, marking the highest increase in over four years, a government report showed on Thursday.
The consumer price inflation, which stayed below 1 percent for four months through August last year, rebounded above 1 percent in September and rose to 2 percent in the first month of this year, Statistics Korea data showed.
Rapid spread of bird flu resulted in a surge in egg prices, boosting the headline inflation above 2 percent.
Tens of millions of chickens and ducks have been destroyed since a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza (AI) was discovered in mid-November.
About one-third of total layer chickens, which lag eggs, were culled for the H5N6 virus infection. Egg price soared 61.9 percent in January from a year earlier, after rising 8.7 percent in December.
Prices for white radish surged 113 percent, with those for napa cabbage and carrot jumping 79 percent and 125 percent respectively.
Prices for agricultural, livestock and fishery products climbed 8.5 percent, raising the overall headline inflation by 0.67 percentage points.
Rebounding crude oil prices led to an 8.4 percent increase in oil product prices, which lifted the inflation by 0.36 percentage points.
