SEOUL-- South Korea's terms of trade sank for 16 months in a row in July as import costs rose faster than export prices, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The nation's net terms-of-trade index for goods -- a gauge of overall trade terms -- fell 11.4 percent last month from a year earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

From the previous month, the figure was down 3.1 percent.

The index is calculated by dividing the index for export prices by that for import prices. It shows the amount of imports a country can buy for each unit of exports.

Import prices of oil and key commodities have risen sharply amid the protracted global supply-chain disruptions and a rebound in demand from the pandemic.

Import prices jumped 22.7 percent on-year in July, while export prices gained 8.1 percent over the same period.

Source: Yonhap News Agency