Import prices of raw materials drop in Oct.

South Korea's import prices of key raw materials dropped for the third straight month in October on a steady decline of metal prices, a trade association said Tuesday. The Korea Importers Association (KOIMA) said its price index for imported commodities stood at 371.9, down 17.28 points from the previous month. The index fell in August after a 10-month rising streak. Using 1995 as the base year, the benchmark index covers 56 key imported raw materials, ranging from corn and soybeans to crude oil and aluminum scraps. The KOIMA attributed the decline in October to a continued slide in prices of metals, such as silver, whose price dropped 16.2 percent from a month earlier on dwindling global demand in the wake of a global economic slowdown. Prices of lead and platinum dropped 14.6 percent and 12.2 percent, respectively, from a month earlier, it said. Apparently helped by falling import prices, the country's consumer prices rose 3.9 percent last month from a year earlier, slowing from the 4.3 percent on-year gain in September.