East Asia Econ

Korea – inflation up in October

The rise in inflation in October has partly due to demand related to last month's extended holiday, and so shouldn't persist. However, inflation remains much stickier than I would have expected, given the ongoing weakness in the economy.

Paul Cavey

Nov 4, 2025 • 3 min read

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East Asia Today

High-frequency data for China through end-October show the stability in upstream prices has persisted. The implication is PPI deflation isn't worsening. In Korea, October CPI inflation ticked up. That's probably temporary, but inflation has remained stickier than I'd expected.

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East Asia Today

China's S&P PMI softened in October, though still paints a better picture of the industrial sector than suggested by the official survey. Korea's PMI also weakened, and neither that nor the BOK's sentiment survey point to a big coming lift in exports.

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Last week, next week

In what was a very eventful few days, two developments last week stood out for me: the cuts in US tariffs on China, and the call in the FYP plan for more consumption. Both continue the turn for the better in China sentiment. The upturn in Korea isn't yet supported by a stronger labour market.