Consumers shop for goods in a supermarket in Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei Province. Photo: VCG

In February, China's Consumer Price Index (CPI) decreased 0.7 percent year-on-year while the Producer Price Index (PPI) declined by 2.2 percent. These fluctuations were primarily due to the Spring Festival date shift, holiday effects and fluctuations in international commodity prices, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Sunday.

Dong Lijuan, an official with the NBS, said that the year-on-year CPI decline in February was primarily due to a higher base in the same month last year, resulting from the date shift of the Chinese New Year. Last February, food and service prices increased significantly during the traditional Chinese holidays, creating a high base effect that contributed to this year's decline. 

After adjusting for the Chinese New Year effect, the CPI rose 0.1 percent year-on-year in February, and the moderate price recovery trend remains unchanged, Dong noted.

Food prices fell by 3.3 percent year-on-year in February, contributing to a 0.6 percentage point drop in CPI, accounting for over 80 percent of the total decline; airfare and travel prices fell by 22.6 percent and 9.6 percent year-on-year, respectively, and together affecting the CPI decline of about 0.27 percentage points, according to Dong.

Moreover, February's weather favored fresh vegetable growth and transportation. Compared with this year, two rounds of rain, snow and freezing weather hit some areas during the same period last year, which had a greater impact on agricultural production and transportation. The price of fresh vegetables in February fell by 12.6 percent year-on-year, affecting the CPI to fall by about 0.31 percentage points year-on-year, Dong said.

Automobile discounts and promotions also weighed on the CPI. Prices for fuel-powered and new-energy vehicles fell by 5.0 percent and 6.0 percent year-on-year, respectively, in February, with a combined impact of about 0.16 percentage points on the year-on-year decline in the CPI, the official added.

In February, prices in some areas showed positive changes, with the prices of some industrial consumer goods and services in the CPI rising steadily. Dong said that prices of consumer industrial goods, excluding energy, rose 0.2 percent year-on-year, with recreational durables up 1.6 percent and clothing up 1.4 percent.

Affected by fluctuations in international gold prices, the year-on-year increase in gold jewelry prices expanded to 38.6 percent. Prices in some service sectors rose steadily, with prices for movie and performance tickets rising by 3.1 percent month-on-month, housekeeping services up 2.6 percent and hairdressing rising 1.0 percent. 

Regarding PPI, Dong noted that holidays and cold-weather halted many construction projects, weakening demand for building materials. As a result, ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing prices fell 10.6 percent year-on-year.

In addition, due to adequate coal supply during the Spring Festival holidays, coal processing prices fell 24.7 percent year-on-year, with coal mining and washing prices down 12.5 percent. Moreover, fluctuations in international oil prices drove declines in domestic oil-related industries, Dong noted.

Global Times