Advertisement
China economy
EconomyChina Economy

China’s consumer inflation at eight-year high, but factory gate prices stay subdued

  • The consumer price index (CPI) rose by 5.4 per cent in January from a year earlier, up from a 4.5 per cent gain in December
  • China’s producer price index, a measure of the prices manufacturers charge at the factory gate, rose marginally by 0.1 per cent

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
China’s struggle to contain the deadly coronavirus is deepening concerns about the impact on the world's number-two economy. Photo: AFP
Harry PearlandFrank Tang

China’s consumer inflation expanded at its fastest pace in more than eight years in January, as pork prices soared due to the coronavirus epidemic and stronger demand over the Lunar New Year period, official data released on Monday showed.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 5.4 per cent from a year earlier, up from a 4.5 per cent gain in December, and at its highest point since October 2011, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

The result was above an analyst poll by Bloomberg, which forecast 4.9 per cent growth.

Within the CPI, pork prices jumped 116 per cent, as city lockdowns and transport restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak hurt supply and demand. Overall food prices jumped 4.4 per cent month-on-month, which lifted the gauge by 0.96 percentage points.

The rise of CPI was mainly due to increased demand over the Lunar New Year and the impact of the virus, and also due to a lower base last year as the Chinese holiday was in February 2019, the NBS said in a statement.

Advertisement