The government is revamping the representative items in the consumer price index to reflect the spread of digital consumption and changing lifestyle patterns. Going forward, peanuts and bellflower root will be dropped from the representative items, while malatang, cloud services, and infant and toddler lesson fees will be added.
The Korea Data Agency said Sunday that it plans to revise the survey method for the consumer price index and announce the final method on December 18. The agency explained that through this overhaul, it aims to reflect citizens' digital lifestyles, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI), and improve how realistically the price index reflects everyday experience. The newly added items include 10 items: meal kits, prefabricated storage furniture, smartwatches, electric vehicle charging fees, cloud storage usage fees, software subscription fees, infant and toddler lesson fees, malatang, salads, and online shopping subscription fees.
Among items with increased spending, those with average monthly consumption expenditure of 312 won or more will be newly reflected in the price index. Seven items falling short of 312 won—peanuts, bellflower root, bracken, butane gas, sinks, dehumidifiers, and storage devices—will be excluded. Four items, including kindergarten fees, school supplementary education costs, childcare facility usage fees, and painting supplies, will also be dropped due to the expansion of free provision. Dashboard cameras and boxed lunches will be excluded because continuous surveying is difficult.
Going forward, pork will be divided into domestic and imported, and electric-powered vehicles will be subdivided into hybrid passenger cars and electric passenger cars. Online content usage fees will also be split into online game usage fees and streaming service usage fees for surveying.
Electric-powered vehicles will be subdivided into hybrid passenger cars and electric passenger cars, air purifiers into air purifiers and humidity control devices, and online content usage fees into online game usage fees and streaming service usage fees.
Kimchi stew set meals and soybean paste stew set meals will be consolidated into "stew set meals." Bathhouse fees will be merged with jjimjilbang (Korean sauna) usage fees, and beauty salon fees with barbershop fees.
In addition, the item classification will be revised to reflect amendments to the international Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose and Korea's standard classification of individual consumption by purpose. This is the first revision since the 2005-based expenditure-purpose classification system was introduced in 2006, and the classification of some items will be moved and adjusted according to new expenditure purposes.
The Korea Data Agency plans to gather public opinion on the representative item selection plan through the 17th, then finalize it after deliberation by the National Statistics Committee. Under the overhaul, the consumer price index and inflation rate calculated on the existing 2020 basis for the period from January last year to November this year could also be changed to the new basis.
Meanwhile, malatang, which has grown in popularity among young people in recent years, appears to be establishing itself as a regular meal rather than a passing trend. Korea Tanghua Kungfu, which operates industry leader "Tanghua Kungfu," posted revenue of 25.5 billion won last year, up 14.6% from the previous year. Operating profit rose 5.0% to 11.1 billion won. Tanghua Kungfu is known to have surpassed 400 stores in Korea.
