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As prices continue to rise, the price of major dining-out items rose sharply last year.
According to the ‘Participation Price’, a comprehensive price information portal of the Korea Consumer Agency, the average price of eight representative food items in Seoul in December last year rose up to 13.8% from January last year.
The item with the highest price increase was jajangmyeon, which was 5,769 won at the beginning of the year, but rose to 6,569 won in December, a 13.8% increase.
Samgyeopsal (based on 200g) rose 12.0% from 16,983 won to 19,031 won, and gimbap rose 11.9% from 2,769 won to 3,100 won.
Prices of samgyetang (11.2%), kalguksu (9.8%), bibimbap (7.9%), naengmyeon (7.8%), and kimchi jjiggae (5.9%) all rose compared to the beginning of the year.
In the midst of this, the National Statistical Office announced that the rate of increase in food prices last year was 7.7%, the highest since 1992 (10.3%) in 30 years.
Consumer price inflation also reached 5.1%, the highest since 1998 (7.5%) during the Asian financial crisis.
