South Korea’s producer prices fell for the fourth straight month, the longest losing streak in 36 months due to a drop in industrial goods’ prices on weak global oil prices.

According to data released by the Bank of Korea, the country’s producer price index (PPI) in January came at 103.75, down 0.2 percent from the previous month. The PPI has continued its downward spiral since October, marking the longest consecutive fall since the decline in the July 2015-January 2016 period.

Against a year ago period, it was up 0.2 percent, recording on-year gain for 27 straight months, but the slowest since November 2016.

The central bank said the softening in global oil prices across November and December dragged down the prices of industrial products. The Dubai crude price, Korea’s benchmark, rose to $59.09 per barrel in January from $57.32 a month earlier, but the prices of refined oil products remained weak due to time lapse in reflecting the change in oil prices.

Prices of jet fuel and bunker-C oil plunged 12.7 percent and 9.0 percent, respectively, against a month earlier, lowering the price index of industrial products in January by 0.6 percent to 97.65 percent from the previous month.

By Lee Yoo-sup and Cho Jeehyun

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