Consumer price index CPI Photo: CFP

China's consumer market stayed steady in September, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rising 0.4 percent year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Sunday.

The increase was 0.2 percentage points lower than in August, mainly due to a higher base effect, NBS statistician Dong Lijuan explained in a statement.

Food prices rose by 3.3 percent, with growth accelerating by 0.5 percentage points compared with the previous month, accounting for about 0.61 percentage points of the year-on-year CPI increase. Among food items, the prices of fresh vegetables jumped by 22.9 percent and those of pork by 16.2 percent.

On a monthly basis, the CPI was flat, following a rise of 0.4 percent in August. For the first nine months of 2024, the average CPI increased by 0.3 percent compared with the same period last year. 

The figures fell short of expectations, mainly because of weak effective demand, seasonal factors, falling energy prices and a high base effect, which offset the price increases in fruit, vegetables and pork, Zhou Maohua, an economist at China Everbright Bank, told the Global Times on Sunday.

However, the trend indicates that price hikes could rise at a moderate rate. This will be driven by improved supply and demand in the domestic pork market, the onset of the traditional peak consumption season, and the gradual impact of new policy measures aimed at boosting economy, Zhou noted.

The recent introduction of the stronger-than-expected counter-cyclical policies is set to significantly boost domestic consumption and demand. Combined with the base effect, these measures are likely to further drive price increases and improvements, Zhou said.

China will soon roll out targeted fiscal measures to boost the economy, including strengthening support to resolve local government debt risks, issuing special government bonds to support large state-owned commercial banks in replenishing core tier-one capital, and combining fiscal tools to support the housing market, Chinese Minister of Finance Lan Fo'an said on Saturday.

Global Times