South Korean PPI (Aug YY) 7.9% (Prev. 7.7%)

For the Bank of Korea, PPI is a second-tier input: policy has historically been set off the consumer print and the growth outlook, with pipeline prices mattering mainly when they signal sustained pass-through into CPI, something Korean episodes have shown to be partial and lagged given administered prices and competitive retail margins. The more useful decomposition is the source of the uptick, whether imported costs via a weaker won and energy are doing the work or whether domestic demand pressures are broadening, since the former has tended to leave the BoK patient while the latter has historically fed into its tightening bias. The won itself is the transmission channel to watch: Korean producer price cycles have often been FX-led, and a rising PPI alongside currency depreciation raises the hurdle for any easing. The follow-ons are the CPI release, which carries the actual policy weight, and any BoK commentary connecting pipeline pressure to its inflation forecast. As a standalone print, the signal is marginal.