Consumer prices rose by more than three percent for the second consecutive month in March due to the soaring prices of fruit and unstable oil prices. 

Statistics Korea announced on Tuesday that the country's consumer price index stood at 113-point-94 in March, up three-point-one percent year-on-year.

The inflation rate slowed to two-point-eight percent in January before rising above the three percent mark to reach three-point-one percent in February.

The rise in the prices of agricultural, livestock and fishery products widened to eleven-point-seven percent in March, with just agricultural prices soaring 20-point-five percent year-on-year. 

In particular, the price of apples jumped 88-point-two percent in March from a year earlier, the largest growth since January 1980 when the nation started compiling related data. 

Prices of petroleum products also rose one-point-two percent year-on-year due to unstable oil prices. 

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and oil prices, rose two-point-four percent in March from a year earlier.