CPI Photo: VCG

China's inflation gauge consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.5 percent year-on-year in December, while the factory gate prices or PPI surged 10.3 percent, both edging down compared with November's figures, according to official data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday. 

The consumer market was generally stable in December due to coordinated measures to stabilize supply amid recent outbreaks of COVID-19 across multiple Chinese cities, Dong Lijuan, a senior statistician from the NBS said on Wednesday.

On a monthly basis, the CPI edged down by 0.3 percent from November which left the whole year's inflation level at a moderate 0.9 percent increase from 2020.

Dong attributed the main source of CPI slowdown to the fall in food prices, particularly pork. 

According to the NBS data, the growth of pork prices plummeted 11.8 percentage points compared with the previous month. In general, China's food price has flipped from 2.4 percent growth in November to negative growth of 0.6 percent in December, contributing about 0.1 percentage points to CPI's slowdown on monthly basis, Dong said. 

In comparison the growth of China's producer price index (PPI) edged down 1.2 percent compared with November on the fall of major industry products as stabilization policy took effect, according to NBS.

According to  NBS data, the coal price has continued to fall. On monthly basis prices across the coal mining and washing industry decreased by 8.3 percent, widening 3.4 percentage points from the previous month. The price of coal processing dropped by 15.4 percent, widening 7.0 percentage points. 

Price for steel, cement and other building materials also dropped due to weaker demand across the winter months.

Global Times