Stacks of containers are piled up at a port in Korea's southeastern city of Busan in this file photo. Yonhap

Korea's import prices fell for the first time in five months in February due mainly to falling global oil prices, central bank data showed Friday.

The import price index shed 0.8 percent from a month earlier in February, following a 2.2 percent on-month increase the previous month, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The index fell for the first time since September, as the average price of Dubai crude, Korea's benchmark, fell 3.1 percent from a month earlier to an average of $77.92 per barrel in February, government data showed.

From a year earlier, the index advanced 4.6 percent in February.

Import prices of raw materials went down 2.3 percent on-month in February, while those of intermediate goods inched down 0.2 percent, according to the BOK.

Import prices are a major factor that determine the path of the country's overall rate of inflation.

The stronger Korean won against the U.S. dollar also led to the decline in import prices.

The local currency came to 1,445.56 won per dollar on average in February, compared with the January average of 1,455.79 won.

The export price index lost 0.6 percent from a month earlier in February, also marking the first on-month fall in five months.

Compared with a year earlier, the index surged 6.3 percent.

Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, rose 2 percent from a year earlier in February following 2.2 percent growth in January.

The central bank earlier forecast consumer prices to grow 1.9 percent annually in 2025.

"In March, global oil prices have fallen further while the local currency weakened. We need to monitor the situation given high uncertainties at home and abroad," BOK official Lee Moon-hee told a press briefing. (Yonhap)