Sharjah24 – AFP: China’s consumer inflation rose in July to a two-year high, official data showed Wednesday, with a surge in pork prices pushing up the cost of food.
Compared with other countries, consumer costs in the world’s second-biggest economy have not skyrocketed, largely spared the impact of a global surge in food prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
China’s consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge of retail inflation, grew less than expected at 2.7 percent from a year ago in July, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed.
CPI rose slightly on-year “due to an increase in prices of pork, fresh vegetables and other food, as well as seasonal factors”, NBS senior statistician Dong Lijuan said in a statement.
Food prices were up 6.3 percent on-year, with pork spiking 20.2 percent in July, she added.
Prices of the staple meat rose in part because of the reluctance of some farmers to sell — ostensibly to maximize profits — and a pick-up in consumer demand, according to the NBS.
The producer price index (PPI) — measuring the cost of goods at the factory gate — rose 4.2 percent in July, down from 6.1 percent in June, official data showed Wednesday.
This was lower than the expectation in a Bloomberg poll of analysts.
The NBS said this was influenced by a drop in international commodity prices such as crude oil and non-ferrous metals.
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