Producer prices rose for the third consecutive month in March amid the rising prices of crude oil and raw materials.

According to the Bank of Korea on Thursday, the producer price index for all commodities and services stood at 116-point-46 last month, up one-point-three percent from a month earlier.

The index, a key barometer of future inflation, has grown for three straight months. The growth of one-point-three percent marks the largest on-month gain in five years and two months since January 2017, when it posted one-point-five percent.

Compared to a year earlier, the index jumped eight-point-eight percent in March, extending the on-year growth rally to 16 months.

Son Jin-sik, a senior official of the central bank, said the rising prices of raw materials, including oil, boosted the prices of industrial goods.

The prices of industrial products rose two-point-three percent from a month ago, with the prices of oil and coal products jumping 15-point-six percent, the largest growth since June 2020.

The prices of agricultural and fishery products and the prices of electricity, gas and water, meanwhile, both gained zero-point-two percent on-month in March.