South Korea's consumer price growth slowed in June to a 32-month low of 2.2 percent due to a fall in global oil prices and continued policy effect, a report showed Monday.

Consumer prices advanced 2.2 percent in June from a year before, down from a 2.5 percent on-year gain tallied in the previous month, according to Statistics Korea. From a month earlier, the prices were down 0.1 percent.

The on-year growth was the lowest since 2.0 percent tallied in October 2009, and stayed below the midpoint of Bank of Korea (BOK)' s inflation target band of 2-4 percent for four straight months.

Core consumer prices, which exclude volatile agricultural and oil product prices, rose 1.5 percent on-year in June, down from a 1.6 percent on-year advance in the previous month, while the OECD- method core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, gained 1.4 percent last month, down from a 1.5 percent increase in May.

The stable consumer prices were mainly attributed to lower oil prices amid the persistent policy effect. The South Korean government was offering subsidies for school meals and childcare fees, sending the private service prices to remain at the low level. Dubai crude, South Korea's benchmark, averaged 94.38 U.S. dollars a barrel in June, down from 107.32 dollars in May.

Market watchers expected the consumer price inflation to stay at a stable level unless global oil prices surge on mounting geopolitical tension in Iran. "Cost-push inflationary pressure has eased recently, and oil prices fell to a stable level. Unless oil prices jump on Iranian geopolitical risks, the headline inflation will remain at the mid-2 percent level, with the core inflation staying at the 1 percent range," Kim Jong-soo, an economist at NH Investment & Securities in Seoul, said in a report before the data release.

Service sector prices rose 1.2 percent in June from a year earlier. Public service prices gained 0.8 percent on-year in June, with private service charges advancing 0.5 percent last month, but the price hike in the housing rental services stayed at the high level of 4.3 percent over the same period.

Among the service sector items, prices for using childcare facilities plunged 34.0 percent on-year in June, and prices for school meal tumbled 19.1 percent as the government widened its free school meal program. Preschool tuitions dropped 11.1 percent last month, and telecommunication fees retreated 6.4 percent as domestic wireless carriers lowered their service charges in a bid to meet the government's efforts to tame inflation.

Manufactured product prices rose at a slower pact amid lower oil prices. Prices for manufactured products gained 3.1 percent on- year in June, down from a 3.5 percent gain tallied in the previous month. Petroleum product prices jumped 5.1 percent in June from a year earlier, but the prices declined 2.6 percent on an on-month basis due to the recent fall in oil prices. Pharmaceutical product prices dropped 10.7 percent on-year last month, with prices for TVs tumbling 20.4 percent.

Prices for agricultural, fishery and livestock products advanced 5.8 percent in June from a year before. Livestock product prices sank 8.2 percent, persistently contributing to steady rise in farm goods prices, but agricultural product prices surged 14.4 percent due to a drought that caused the driest spell in more than a century.

The fresh food price index, a gauge of fruits and vegetables, climbed 11.0 percent on-year in June, down from a 13.9 percent jump tallied in the previous month. Fresh fruit prices advanced 11. 0 percent, and vegetable prices soared 19.8 percent.

Prices for electricity, water and gas gained 4.2 percent on- year in June, up from a 3.9 percent rise in May.