---
ticker: "KRCORECPI"
title: "South Korea Core CPI (ex Food & Energy)"
unit: "index (2020=100)"
frequency: "Monthly"
source: "Eckstein (1981); Bryan and Cecchetti (1994)"
release: "Updated Monthly"
category: "Consumer & Producer Prices"
country: "KR"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://kred.dev/en/series/KRCORECPI"
license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/"
latest_value: 116.53
latest_date: "2026-09-01"
first_date: "1990-01-01"
observations_total: 441
observations_shown: 120
---

# South Korea Core CPI (ex Food & Energy)

## Overview

Strips out volatile food and energy to reveal the underlying trend in prices.

## Key Figures

|  | Value | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 116.53 | 2026-09-01 |
| Change from previous | -0.11 | 2026-08-01 |
| Change over one year | +3.17 | 2025-09-01 |
| Highest on record | 116.64 | 2026-08-01 |
| Lowest on record | 40.23 | 1990-01-01 |
| Period covered | 1990-01-01 – 2026-09-01 |  |
| Observations | 441 |  |

## Recent observations

| Date | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2016-10-01 | 96.60 | -0.04 |
| 2016-11-01 | 96.51 | -0.09 |
| 2016-12-01 | 96.63 | +0.12 |
| 2017-01-01 | 97.23 | +0.59 |
| 2017-02-01 | 97.48 | +0.26 |
| 2017-03-01 | 97.50 | +0.02 |
| 2017-04-01 | 97.60 | +0.09 |
| 2017-05-01 | 97.79 | +0.19 |
| 2017-06-01 | 97.73 | -0.06 |
| 2017-07-01 | 97.98 | +0.25 |
| 2017-08-01 | 98.13 | +0.14 |
| 2017-09-01 | 97.97 | -0.16 |
| 2017-10-01 | 98.14 | +0.18 |
| 2017-11-01 | 97.81 | -0.34 |
| 2017-12-01 | 97.97 | +0.16 |
| 2018-01-01 | 98.19 | +0.23 |
| 2018-02-01 | 98.61 | +0.42 |
| 2018-03-01 | 98.81 | +0.20 |
| 2018-04-01 | 99.00 | +0.19 |
| 2018-05-01 | 99.14 | +0.14 |
| 2018-06-01 | 98.96 | -0.18 |
| 2018-07-01 | 98.97 | +0.01 |
| 2018-08-01 | 99.14 | +0.17 |
| 2018-09-01 | 99.06 | -0.08 |
| 2018-10-01 | 99.14 | +0.08 |
| 2018-11-01 | 99.02 | -0.12 |
| 2018-12-01 | 99.00 | -0.02 |
| 2019-01-01 | 99.22 | +0.23 |
| 2019-02-01 | 99.69 | +0.47 |
| 2019-03-01 | 99.54 | -0.15 |
| 2019-04-01 | 99.69 | +0.15 |
| 2019-05-01 | 99.70 | +0.01 |
| 2019-06-01 | 99.64 | -0.07 |
| 2019-07-01 | 99.84 | +0.20 |
| 2019-08-01 | 99.97 | +0.13 |
| 2019-09-01 | 99.53 | -0.43 |
| 2019-10-01 | 99.76 | +0.23 |
| 2019-11-01 | 99.53 | -0.23 |
| 2019-12-01 | 99.62 | +0.09 |
| 2020-01-01 | 99.84 | +0.22 |
| 2020-02-01 | 100.07 | +0.23 |
| 2020-03-01 | 99.75 | -0.32 |
| 2020-04-01 | 99.79 | +0.04 |
| 2020-05-01 | 99.93 | +0.14 |
| 2020-06-01 | 100.02 | +0.09 |
| 2020-07-01 | 100.17 | +0.15 |
| 2020-08-01 | 100.36 | +0.19 |
| 2020-09-01 | 100.16 | -0.20 |
| 2020-10-01 | 99.50 | -0.66 |
| 2020-11-01 | 100.16 | +0.66 |
| 2020-12-01 | 100.26 | +0.10 |
| 2021-01-01 | 100.56 | +0.30 |
| 2021-02-01 | 100.70 | +0.14 |
| 2021-03-01 | 100.82 | +0.12 |
| 2021-04-01 | 101.01 | +0.19 |
| 2021-05-01 | 101.12 | +0.11 |
| 2021-06-01 | 101.14 | +0.02 |
| 2021-07-01 | 101.45 | +0.31 |
| 2021-08-01 | 101.70 | +0.25 |
| 2021-09-01 | 101.58 | -0.12 |
| 2021-10-01 | 101.83 | +0.25 |
| 2021-11-01 | 102.06 | +0.23 |
| 2021-12-01 | 102.51 | +0.45 |
| 2022-01-01 | 103.17 | +0.66 |
| 2022-02-01 | 103.59 | +0.42 |
| 2022-03-01 | 103.68 | +0.09 |
| 2022-04-01 | 104.05 | +0.37 |
| 2022-05-01 | 104.57 | +0.52 |
| 2022-06-01 | 105.09 | +0.52 |
| 2022-07-01 | 105.52 | +0.43 |
| 2022-08-01 | 105.84 | +0.32 |
| 2022-09-01 | 105.70 | -0.14 |
| 2022-10-01 | 106.10 | +0.40 |
| 2022-11-01 | 106.35 | +0.25 |
| 2022-12-01 | 106.65 | +0.30 |
| 2023-01-01 | 107.29 | +0.64 |
| 2023-02-01 | 107.60 | +0.31 |
| 2023-03-01 | 107.81 | +0.21 |
| 2023-04-01 | 108.12 | +0.31 |
| 2023-05-01 | 108.51 | +0.39 |
| 2023-06-01 | 108.61 | +0.10 |
| 2023-07-01 | 108.91 | +0.30 |
| 2023-08-01 | 109.16 | +0.25 |
| 2023-09-01 | 109.02 | -0.14 |
| 2023-10-01 | 109.40 | +0.38 |
| 2023-11-01 | 109.40 | 0.00 |
| 2023-12-01 | 109.60 | +0.20 |
| 2024-01-01 | 110.01 | +0.41 |
| 2024-02-01 | 110.34 | +0.33 |
| 2024-03-01 | 110.42 | +0.08 |
| 2024-04-01 | 110.66 | +0.24 |
| 2024-05-01 | 110.91 | +0.25 |
| 2024-06-01 | 110.95 | +0.04 |
| 2024-07-01 | 111.27 | +0.32 |
| 2024-08-01 | 111.40 | +0.13 |
| 2024-09-01 | 111.18 | -0.22 |
| 2024-10-01 | 111.39 | +0.21 |
| 2024-11-01 | 111.44 | +0.05 |
| 2024-12-01 | 111.59 | +0.15 |
| 2025-01-01 | 112.14 | +0.55 |
| 2025-02-01 | 112.29 | +0.15 |
| 2025-03-01 | 112.52 | +0.23 |
| 2025-04-01 | 112.93 | +0.41 |
| 2025-05-01 | 113.10 | +0.17 |
| 2025-06-01 | 113.17 | +0.07 |
| 2025-07-01 | 113.47 | +0.30 |
| 2025-08-01 | 112.84 | -0.63 |
| 2025-09-01 | 113.36 | +0.52 |
| 2025-10-01 | 113.79 | +0.43 |
| 2025-11-01 | 113.64 | -0.15 |
| 2025-12-01 | 113.83 | +0.19 |
| 2026-01-01 | 114.41 | +0.58 |
| 2026-02-01 | 114.87 | +0.46 |
| 2026-03-01 | 114.98 | +0.11 |
| 2026-04-01 | 115.38 | +0.40 |
| 2026-05-01 | 115.97 | +0.59 |
| 2026-06-01 | 115.98 | +0.01 |
| 2026-07-01 | 116.43 | +0.45 |
| 2026-08-01 | 116.64 | +0.21 |
| 2026-09-01 | 116.53 | -0.11 |

## Definition

KRCORECPI is the raw monthly consumer price index for all items excluding food and energy, recorded as the published index level without any transformation. The series measures the aggregate price of a fixed representative basket of consumer goods and services from which the volatile food and energy components have been removed. This exclusion-based core measure was first defined as the inflation rate prevailing on the economy's long-run growth path once supply shocks are stripped out and demand is neutral (Eckstein 1981).

As a fixed-basket aggregate index the series follows a base-period-quantity-weighted construction (Laspeyres 1871). This construction is the conceptual counterpart to the comparison-period-weighted form (Paasche 1874), and it approximates the economic true cost-of-living concept (Konüs 1939; Diewert 1998).

The exclusion of food and energy is one resolution of the underlying-inflation measurement problem posed across the literature (Cecchetti 1997; Bryan and Cecchetti 1994; Quah and Vahey 1995). This exclusion approach contrasts with the limited-influence trimmed-mean and weighted-median estimators and with the unobserved-components trend (Bryan, Cecchetti, and Wiggins 1997; Stock and Watson 2007).

The index-number target the series embodies is the harmonized consumer-price concept (Diewert 2002), which has been surveyed in axiomatic terms (Balk 1995). A rise in the series signifies a strengthening of persistent price pressure net of food and energy shocks.

## Methodology

KRED applies no transformation to KRCORECPI, neither re-referencing, deflating, seasonal adjustment, smoothing, nor annualization, so the stored value is the monthly not-seasonally-adjusted index level exactly as compiled.

The measurement basis on which the series rests is the fixed-basket aggregate-price-index framework. Within it a base-period-quantity-weighted average of price relatives is formed (Laspeyres 1871), and a comparison-period-weighted alternative exists (Paasche 1874). The geometric reconciliation of the two forms the ideal index (Fisher 1922).

The axiomatic and test criteria such a formula is required to satisfy have been catalogued across the literature (Fisher 1922; Balk 1995; Diewert 1976). The translog log-change expenditure-share form and the exact and superlative index classes define the chained refinements toward which fixed-base indices are evaluated (Törnqvist 1936; Diewert 1976).

The core variant is obtained by deleting the food and energy strata from the basket before aggregation. The value so obtained is an exclusion estimator of underlying inflation (Eckstein 1981; Cecchetti 1997), distinct from the trimmed-mean and weighted-median limited-influence estimators (Bryan and Cecchetti 1994; Bryan, Cecchetti, and Wiggins 1997).

The extent to which such a fixed-base index departs from the economic true cost-of-living target is the substitution-bias gap (Konüs 1939), and this gap has been quantified (Diewert 1998; Boskin et al. 1996).

## Applications in Economics

Core CPI excluding food and energy is read as a gauge of the persistent, demand-driven component of inflation. This corresponds to the inflation prevailing on the long-run growth path with supply shocks removed and demand neutral (Eckstein 1981).

Excluding the volatile food and energy items is the exclusion approach to the underlying-inflation problem, framing measured headline inflation as trend plus transitory noise plus bias (Cecchetti 1997). Limited-influence estimators that address the same asymmetric supply shocks are a further response to the problem (Bryan and Cecchetti 1994), while the alternative structural definition identifies core inflation as the component with no long-run effect on real output (Quah and Vahey 1995).

Because the index approximates a true cost-of-living concept (Konüs 1939; Diewert 1998), its movements are interpreted against the substitution and quality-change biases (Boskin et al. 1996). The residual food and energy gap reflects the relative-price shocks that the fixed-basket construction passes through (Laspeyres 1871; Paasche 1874).

The trend so isolated corresponds to the unobserved-components permanent component (Stock and Watson 2007). The optimal degree of trimming that would achieve the same noise reduction is set by a kurtosis-based calculation (Bryan, Cecchetti, and Wiggins 1997).

## Applications in Financial Markets

In financial analysis the core CPI level anchors the measurement of real returns and inflation compensation. The persistent component it isolates is the one most informative for pricing the inflation expectations embedded in nominal instruments.

The exclusion of food and energy follows the underlying-inflation logic (Cecchetti 1997; Eckstein 1981), giving a series whose signal-to-noise properties are better suited to extracting the trend. This trend is modeled as an unobserved-components random walk (Stock and Watson 2007) and targeted by kurtosis-optimal trimming (Bryan, Cecchetti, and Wiggins 1997).

The index is a fixed-basket Laspeyres (1871) aggregate rather than the comparison-period-weighted Paasche (1874) or the superlative Fisher (1922) and Törnqvist (1936) forms. The resulting wedge between measured core inflation and the true cost-of-living concept therefore bears directly on the real-yield and breakeven calculations that condition on it (Konüs 1939; Diewert 1998).

Market participants treat the food and energy exclusion as a transparent, if imperfect, filter on the inflation risk that fixed-income and inflation-linked valuation must price. This reading rests on the structural no-long-run-output definition and the limited-influence median (Quah and Vahey 1995; Bryan and Cecchetti 1994).

## Statistical Tests

KRCORECPI is published as a not-seasonally-adjusted core consumer-price index level, and the appropriate statistical object is its logarithm, expected to be integrated of order one. The sample is 437 monthly observations spanning 1990-01 to 2026-05, and the unit-root triplet is fitted on the log level with a constant and trend.

The augmented Dickey-Fuller regression of Dickey and Fuller (1979), in the lag-augmented form of Said and Dickey (1984), rejects the unit root at the five percent level with p = 0.045, and the nonparametric test of Phillips and Perron (1988) rejects more decisively at p = 0.000, yet the stationarity-null test rejects trend stationarity at p < 0.01 (Kwiatkowski et al. 1992). The three procedures therefore disagree, with the two difference-null tests pointing toward stationarity and the KPSS test toward a unit root, so no clean order of integration is assigned.

Because the log level does not receive a clean stationary verdict, the portmanteau and the break search are run on its first difference, since a level portmanteau on a persistent index reads mechanical near-unit autocorrelation and a level mean-break search spuriously segments a stochastic trend (Perron 1989; Hamilton 2018). The portmanteau statistic of Ljung and Box (1978), refining the form of Box and Pierce (1970), rejects the white-noise null on the differenced log level at p = 0.000, and the multiple-break procedure of Bai and Perron (1998), computed by the dynamic-programming algorithm of Bai and Perron (2003), locates a single break in the mean of the differenced series at 1998-04.

Seasonal tests are appropriate on this unadjusted monthly index. The seasonal-unit-root test of Hylleberg et al. (1990), with the monthly mechanics of Beaulieu and Miron (1993), rejects unit roots at the seasonal frequencies at p = 0.000, while the seasonal dummies are jointly significant at p = 0.000, so the seasonality is present and deterministic rather than stochastic, consistent with the stationary-seasonality reading of Canova and Hansen (1995) and with the not-seasonally-adjusted character of the series (Ghysels and Osborn 2001).

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Which consumer and producer price indices are published for Korea?

The headline and core consumer price indices, the producer price index, and consumer price sub-baskets classified by the nature of the item, each as a published index level.

### Is the Korean consumer price index seasonally adjusted?

No. These are the unadjusted indices, so month-on-month movements should be read with the usual seasonal pattern in mind.

### Why are price indices published as levels rather than inflation rates?

The published object is the level, and it carries its base period with it. The year-on-year rates are split into a separate group so that the transformation KRED applies is visible rather than hidden inside a level series.