Beef prices rose 7.3% in 2015

Prices of domestically produced beef rose at the fastest clip in five years in 2015, government data showed Monday.

According to the data by Statistics Korea, domestic beef prices rose 7.3 percent last year from the previous year. This marked the largest annual gain since 2010 when prices surged 10.5 percent on-year.

Domestically produced beef is on display at a South Korean supermarket. (Yonhap)

Industry watchers said prices rose on government efforts to reduce the number of cattle to prop up the local beef sector.

In particular, prices increased at double-digit rates in the fourth quarter of last year, with the growth rate reaching 12.7 percent in December compared to a year earlier. In January, prices jumped 14 percent.

The data also showed that prices of imported beef climbed 3.6 percent in 2015 from the previous year.

The average price of overall livestock products rose 3.7 percent on-year in 2015, far outpacing the headline consumer inflation rate of 0.7 percent.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)