Shanghai reopens, ports prepare for cargo surge

SEOUL - South Korea’s consumer inflation picked up more than expected in May to a near 14-year high on a global surge in materials and food costs, data showed on Friday, cementing the case for further interest rate raises.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 5.4 per cent in May from a year before, the Statistics Korea data showed, speeding up from a 4.8 per cent rise the previous month and faster than 5.1 per cent tipped in a Reuters poll.

It even topped the highest forecast of 5.2 per cent in the survey and was the fastest annual growth since August 2008, while standing above the central bank’s 2 per cent target for a 14th consecutive month.

“We don’t expect interest rates to be raised faster because of today’s figures, but the central bank will need to keep the tightening stance while watching for any sign of inflation peaking out around July,” said Kong Dong-rak, an economist at Daishin Securities, who expects the central bank to raise rates two more times this year.

Both the central bank chief and the finance minister have said inflation would stay above 5 per cent for a few months.

The Bank of Korea sharply raised this year’s inflation projection to 4.5 per cent last week from the previous 3.1 per cent.

CALIFORNIA port leaders expect imports to rise as Shanghai, home to the world’s busiest seaport, emerges from a two-month COVID-19 lockdown.

The question is whether that release of pent-up goods will again swamp West Coast ports that have recently emerged from the pandemic’s massive cargo wave, they and other experts said.

The Port of Shanghai was open during the city’s shutdown, but cargo flows still slowed. Area factories that make everything from Tesla electric vehicles to Apple laptops ran out of components and quarantines idled some truckers.

As the city returns to normal, trade should follow. “We will have some form of a surge, given the delay of cargo volume from Shanghai and China overall,” Mario Cordero, executive director of the Port of Long Beach, said on the sidelines of a Reuters Events logistics conference in Chicago.