South Korea's consumer prices rose 1.4 percent in August from a year earlier, hovering below 2 percent for 11 straight months, a government report showed Tuesday.

The headline inflation declined from 2.1 percent in September last year to 1.8 percent in the following month, and stayed below 2 percent for 11 months through August, according to Statistics Korea.

Oil product price jumped 12 percent last month, pulling up the overall consumer price inflation by 0.52 percentage points.

Farm goods price advanced 7 percent, raising the headline inflation by 0.33 percentage points.

However, prices for electricity, tap water and natural gas tumbled 8.9 percent in August from a year ago.

The unusually scorching heatwave encouraged household to increase the operation of air conditioner, stoking worry about surging electric rates.

The government temporarily slashed electric charges by 16.8 percent for two months to August to reduce household burden for living costs.

Core consumer price, which excludes volatile agricultural and oil products, gained 0.9 percent in August from a year earlier.