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China's CPI Up 2.4% in First Half of 2013
Summary:China's CPI rose 2.7% year-on-year in June, with an increase in food prices helping to drive the indicator up from the 2.1% pace of growth registered in May. The consumer price index increased by 2.4% over the first 6 months of the year when compared to prices in the first half of 2012.


July 9, 2013
Translated by Pang Lei

China's consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.7 percent year-on-year in June, a substantial increase on the pace of growth registered in May, when the index rose by 2.1 percent compared to 12 months earlier. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the inflation data, along with other economic indicators on July 9.

According to the NBS, prices grew by 2.6 percent in urban areas and 2.8 percent in rural areas. Food prices rose 4.9 percent, an increase from the 3.2 percent growth registered in May, contributing 1.59 percentage points to the overall increase in CPI. Non-food prices increased by 1.6 percent.

The price of consumer goods rose by 2.6 percent and the price of services grew by 2.7 percent.

A sharp uptick in food prices helped drive the June CPI reading higher. The NBS reported that prices of fresh vegetables rose by 9.7 percent year on year in June, after falling  by almost 2 percent in May. The price of meat, poultry and related products rose by 4.8 percent, up from the 1.6 percent rise registered in May. Also pork prices increased on a year-on-year basis for the first time in many months, with pork prices up 1.1 percent year-on-year in June. However, the average price of pork over the first half of the year was still down 3.7 percent on the average price over the first 6 months of 2012.

According to the NBS, housing-related prices were up by 3.1 percent year-on-year in June, with rental costs up 4.1 percent.

The producer price index (PPI), another measure of inflation at the wholesale level, fell 2.7 percent in June when compared to the same month in 2012. This marked the 16th consecutive month that the PPI reading has been negative.

Over the first six months of 2013, the PPI fell by 2.2 percent when compared to the first half of 2012.

The NBS also said that China's CPI grew by 2.4 percent over the first half of 2013 when compared to the first six months of 2012.

In March 2013, in an address to the National People's Congress (NPC), former premier Wen Jiabao said that the central government expected the CPI to rise by about 3.5 percent over the course of 2013.

On average over the course of 2012, overall consumer prices were up by 2.6 percent when compared to 2011, well below the target of 4 percent growth set by Premier Wen Jiabao during his annual work report to the National People's Congress in March last year.

China's CPI averaged growth of 5.4 percent in 2011.

Links and Sources
National Bureau of Statistics: 2013年6月份居民消费价格变动情况
National Bureau of Statistics: 2013年6月份工业生产者价格变动情况

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