August 9, 2013
Translated by Pang Lei

China's consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.7 percent year-on-year in July, the same pace of growth registered in June. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the inflation data, along with other economic indicators earlier this morning.

According to the NBS, prices grew by 2.6 percent in urban areas and 2.9 percent in rural areas. Food prices rose 5 percent, roughly the same pace of expansion as in June, contributing 1.61 percentage points to the overall increase in CPI. Non-food prices increased by 1.6 percent, also about the same pace of growth registered last month.

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

The NBS also said that China's CPI grew by 2.4 percent over the first seven months of 2013 when compared to the same period last year.

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.

Rising food prices helped drive the July CPI reading higher, though the NBS noted that food prices actually remained stable on a month-on-month basis.

The NBS reported that prices of fresh vegetables rose by 11.8 percent year-on-year in July, after falling by almost 2 percent in May. The price of meat, poultry and related products rose by 5.9 percent. Pork prices also continued to rise on a year-on-year basis, up 3 percent year-on-year last month.

Pork prices in July were also up by 1.7 percent on June, but the pace of month-on-month growth had slowed by 2.9 percentage points.

Non-food prices increased by 0.2 percent month-on-month, with an increase in travel over the summer helping to push the price of related services higher. For example, plan tickets rose by 8.1 percent in July compared to June.

According to the NBS, housing-related prices were up by 2.8 percent year-on-year in July, with rental costs up 4.4 percent.

The producer price index (PPI), another measure of inflation at the wholesale level, fell 2.3 percent in July when compared to the same month in 2012. This marked the 17th consecutive month that the PPI reading has been negative.

Over the first seven months of 2013, the PPI fell by 2.2 percent when compared to the same period of 2012.

Links and Sources
National Bureau of Statistics: 2013年7月份居民消費價格變動情況
National Bureau of Statistics: 2013年7月份工業生產者價格變動情況
National Bureau of Statistics: 國家統計局城市司高級統計師余秋梅解讀2013年7月份CPI、PPI數據