China CPI grew 0.7% year-on-year in September

Shanghai, China, Oct 14 (EFE).- China’s consumer price index, the main inflation indicator, increased 0.7 percent year-on-year in September, according to official data published Thursday by the National Statistics Office.

This represents a 0.1 points decrease compared to the previous month’s data, of 0.8 percent, and is again below that expected by analysts, who predicted an advance of about 0.9 percent for September.

This is the seventh consecutive month of increases in this indicator after January and February – months marked by outbreaks of the coronavirus – contracted by 0.3 and 0.2 percent, respectively.

It is also the fourth consecutive month of a slowdown in the price index, which marked its peak this year in May (+1.3 percent).

In the comparison between the months of August and September, consumer prices remained constant as a whole.

Meanwhile, in the year-on-year comparison there were changes: food prices fell by 5.2 percent compared to September 2020 while non-food prices rose by 2 percent.

The office also released Thursday the producer price index, an indicator of wholesale inflation, which rose 10.7 percent year-on-year.

This represents a 1.2-points advance from the August mark, which had already been the highest for this indicator in almost 13 years.

Despite Beijing’s announcement of measures, industrial prices continue to be affected by rising raw material costs. EFE

vec/lds