China’s CPI grows 0.8% year-on-year in August

Beijing, Sep 9 (EFE).- China’s consumer price index (CPI), the main indicator of inflation, increased 0.8 percent year-on-year in August, according to data published Thursday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

This represents a 1 percent drop with respect to the previous month’s data, and is below that expected by analysts, who predicted a rise of around 1 percent for August.

It is the sixth consecutive month of increase in the indicator after January and February – marked by outbreaks of Covid-19 – contracted by 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

In the comparison between the months of July and August, consumer prices rose 0.1 percent, which NBS expert Dong Lijuan attributed in part to the effect of the summer outbreaks in the east and south of the country, in addition to heavy rains and high temperatures in various parts of China, which resulted in an increase in food prices.

In the year-on-year comparison, the opposite effect occurred: food prices fell (-4.1 percent), while non-food prices were 1.9 percent more expensive compared to a year ago.

The NBS also released Thursday the producer price index (PPI), an indicator of wholesale inflation, which rose 9.5 percent year-on-year in August.

This represents a rise of 0.5 points with respect to the July mark and a jump in respect to the seventh and fifth months of the year (9 percent), which saw the highest level for this indicator in almost 13 years.

Although Beijing has taken action, industrial prices continue to be influenced by rising raw material costs. EFE

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