China’s consumer inflation eased in February to a 12-month low, while its factory-gate prices showed an annual fall for a fifth month, official data showed yesterday.
China’s consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, climbed 1 percent from a year earlier in February after a three-month high of 2.1 percent in January, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, quoted by China Daily.
Food prices increased by 2.6 percent in February compared with a year ago, down from 6.2 percent in January. Pork, a staple in Chinese cuisine, saw prices surge by 3.9 percent, down from a rise of 11.8 percent in January. The prices of potatoes, fresh fruit, eggs and poultry rose by 14.4 percent, 8.5 percent, 7.9 percent and 6.4 percent respectively, all deflating from the increases reported in January.
On a month-on-month basis, February’s CPI declined by 0.5 percent, while January’s CPI increased by 0.8 percent, the NBS said.
The growth in core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices and is deemed a better gauge of the supply-demand relationship in the economy, rose by 0.6 percent year-on-year in February after a 1 percent rise in January.
