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| A shop employee stacks a shelf with instant noodles at a supermarket in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap |
By Yi Whan-woo
The prices of grocery items increased more than people's disposable income did in the first three months this year, adding to concerns about the real income or inflation-adjusted earnings of households.
According to Statistics Korea, Monday, disposable income, which refers to the money available for consumption after paying taxes, amounted to 3.99 million won ($3,056) in the first quarter across all households nationwide, up 3.4 percent from a year earlier.
The statistics agency said that prices of a total of 67 items on the typical grocery list rose faster than the growth rate of disposable income in the cited period.
The prices of some items even went up by 10 percent or higher, meaning that they grew more than three times compared to disposable income.
Price for many staple and popular items increased with beer up by 10.2 percent, gimbab up by 10.4 percent and frozen pizza up by 10.5 percent, ramen up by 12.4 percent, snack foods up by 13.1 percent, and bread up by 14.3 percent. Contrasting the hike in the price of beer price, soju marked just a 0.7 percent increase.
A number of items saw a more-than-20 percent increase in their respective prices, including flour at 21.3 percent, jam at 23.7 percent, crab sticks at 26.6 percent, cooking oil at 28.8 percent, salad dressing at 29.1 percent and cheese at 32.8 percent.
"The pace of the price hikes for many items is at its steepest level since the 2008-09 global financial crisis," an industry source said, noting that such an upward price trend on groceries only adds to household's mounting financial pressure as their real wages are not increasing as quickly, if at all.
The source said that as households have less disposable income, they will face a heavier financial burden as they try to cope with rising food prices.
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