![April 2026 consumer price trends. [Photo=National Data Center]](https://image.ajunews.com/content/image/2026/05/06/20260506092211872527.png)
Global oil prices kept climbing, driving a sharp jump in fuel costs and pushing consumer inflation to its fastest pace in 21 months. A government cap on fuel prices, in place since March, helped cushion the rise but did not prevent inflation from staying in the 2% range. Officials also warned that price pressures that have been concentrated in energy could spread to non-energy items starting in May.
According to the National Data Center’s “April 2026 Consumer Price Trends” released Tuesday, the consumer price index stood at 119.37 (2020=100) in April, up 2.6% from a year earlier. Prices for agricultural, livestock and fisheries products fell, but the steep rise in petroleum products lifted overall inflation to its biggest increase in 21 months.
Processed food prices, which had posted high gains since last year, rose 1.0% in April. The slower increase appeared to reflect cuts in factory-gate prices, the agency said.
Petroleum product prices jumped 21.9% from a year earlier, the biggest increase since July 2022 during the Russia-Ukraine war, when the rise reached 35.25, marking the largest gain in three years and nine months. Over the same period, gasoline rose 21.1% and diesel climbed 30.8%. Kerosene increased 18.7%, the strongest rise in three years and two months since February 2023, when it gained 27.1%.
The agency said the fuel price cap introduced in March acted as a buffer against inflation. The Korea Development Institute has also reported that the cap lowered March consumer inflation by 0.8%, according to its research findings.
“Rising global oil prices pushed up petroleum products and international airfares in particular,” said Lee Du-won, the agency’s director for economic trends and statistical review. “However, compared with the OECD, the increase in petroleum products is smaller. The fuel price cap had some effect in easing the overall rise in consumer prices,” he said.
Price pressures also extended into services. Public service prices rose 1.4% from a year earlier and personal services increased 3.2%. International airfares jumped 15.9% as fuel surcharges rose, leading the increase in public service prices, the agency said.
Domestic airfares have not shown a marked rise so far, but increases are expected from May. The April fuel surcharge for domestic flights was calculated based on February levels, while May pricing is expected to reflect the impact of the Middle East war in late February, the agency said.
Prices for rice and livestock products also continued to rise. Rice, including glutinous rice, posted larger increases due to reduced cultivation area. Livestock prices rose sharply for items such as imported beef and chicken, driven by higher import prices and avian influenza, the agency said.
Still, the agency said higher oil prices had not yet spread broadly into non-energy categories. “So far, we are not seeing an overall rise in dining out or processed foods,” Lee said. He added that prices for paper diapers and sanitary pads have not fluctuated much, and that garbage bags fell 0.3% due to price adjustments by some local governments.
The core inflation index excluding food and energy rose 2.2% from a year earlier. The index excluding agricultural products and petroleum products also increased 2.2% over the year.
Among 458 items, the cost-of-living index covering 144 frequently purchased goods rose 2.9% from April last year. The fresh food index, however, fell 6.1% from a year earlier.
An index excluding owners’ equivalent rent, which reflects the cost of housing services consumed by homeowners, rose 2.3% from a year earlier.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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