17 November 2022, Thursday, 05:38 169

China's CPI up 2.1 pct in October

Редактор: Тимофій Борзенко

People shop at a supermarket in Zaozhuang City, east China's Shandong Province. Photo by Sun Zhongzhe/Xinhua.

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.1% year on year in October, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said. This was reported by The Xinhua News Agency.

On a monthly basis, October's CPI generally remained stable, contracting 0.2 percentage points from the previous month to inch up 0.1%.

Senior NBS statistician Dong Lijuan attributed the stable CPI performance to falling demands after the National Day holiday and a high base of comparison to last year.

Breakdown data showed that food prices went up 0.1% month on month, moderating 1.8 percentage points from September.

"Specifically, the prices of fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, and aquatic products reversed September's increases to decline by 4.5%, 1.6%, and 2.3%, month on month, respectively, as plenty of supplies hit the market and the demand weakened", – Dong noted.

"Pork, a staple meat in China, saw prices rise 9.4% in October monthly, expanding 4 percentage points over the previous month. The rise of pork prices was mainly driven by the shortage of supply, seasonal strengthening consumer demand, and "reluctance to sell" market sentiment", – Dong said.

Non-food prices rose 1.1% from a year earlier, compared to the 1.5% rise in September, lifting consumer inflation by about 0.88 percentage points.

The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, gained 0.6% year on year in October, unchanged from the prior month.

Data also showed China's producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went down 1.3% year on year in October.