Prices Surge with Start of New Year

Consumer prices are being hiked on all sides at the start of the year, from coca cola to detergent and clothes to cosmetics. 

The hike has been noticeable in convenient stores since the first day of 2023 as popular daily necessities became more expensive. LG Household and Healthcare jacked up prices for toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo and other products it sells in convenience stores blaming rising raw materials, delivery and labor costs. 

Prices of processed foods are also rising, and ice cream and coffee beverage prices jumped because raw milk got more expensive.

Restaurants are also marking up their prices of menu items citing inflation and higher labor costs. 

Luxury labels are gladly jumping on the bandwagon. Chanel hiked the price tag of Coco Mademoiselle perfume from W109,000 to W126,000 for a 35 ml bottle on Monday (US$1=W1,272). It also raised the prices of other perfume and cosmetics products by around 10 percent. 

A Rolex Submariner Date combination watch has gone up from an already eye-watering W18.8 million to W20 million. 

The trend is expected to continue. The government forecast that inflation will not ease until the second half of the year to result in an overall inflation rate of around 3.5 percent for the whole year. Although that is down 1.6 percentage points from last year, it is still the second highest since 2011.