Amid a rapid rise in South Korea’s consumer prices, the country's producer prices have hit a 17-month high. 
According to preliminary data released on Tuesday by the Bank of Korea, the producer price index(PPI) stood at 100.79 in December, up 0.8% from a month earlier. 
It is the first time the PPI surged passed the 100-mark since it was tallied at 100.33 in September 2015 and the highest since posting 101.4 in July of 2015. 
The on-month growth has now extended to a fifth straight month. Compared with December of 2015, it is up by 1.8%. 
The BOK said producer prices of coal, oil products and some metal products rose from November amid the increases in global oil and steel prices. 
Producer prices are a leading indicator of inflation as they are reflected in consumer prices over time