Despite Increased Spending Due to High Inflation, Actual Consumption Decreased

Real Food Consumption Down 3.4% Last Year

Last year, amid a high interest rate and high inflation environment that led households to significantly reduce consumption, real consumption of food and non-alcoholic beverages decreased by 3.4%.

According to the "2023 Annual Household Expenditure Trends" released by Statistics Korea on the 29th, the average monthly consumption expenditure per household last year was 2,792,000 KRW, an increase of 5.8% compared to the previous year.

Real consumption expenditure, excluding inflation, increased by 2.1%.

Under the high inflation trend, spending increased in most categories such as recreation and culture (18.9%), food and accommodation (7.6%), housing, water, and utilities (9.2%), transportation (7.6%), other goods and services (5.5%), and education (3.9%).

However, considering consumer price inflation, real consumption expenditure decreased in food and non-alcoholic beverages (-3.4%), clothing and footwear (-4.2%), and household goods and domestic services (-3.5%).

Spending on food and non-alcoholic beverages was 397,000 KRW, a 1.9% increase compared to the previous year. Expenditure on fruits and processed fruit products increased by 5.2%, and spending on sugars and confectionery increased by 4.3%. However, based on real consumption expenditure, these represent decreases of 4.0% and 4.0%, respectively.

Clothing and footwear expenditure also increased by 2.2% in nominal terms to 139,000 KRW, but decreased by 4.2% in real terms, with real expenditure on footwear decreasing by 7.8%.

Due to the rise in public utility charges, housing, water, and utility expenses increased by 9.2% compared to the previous year, reaching 330,000 KRW. Among these, residential fuel costs such as electricity and city gas increased by 16.1%, but in terms of real expenditure, they actually decreased by 3.1%.