China consumer prices up 2.3 pct in April

China consumer prices up 2.3 pct in April

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, grew 2.3 percent year on year in April, flat from the previous two months, new data showed Tuesday. 

The growth rate remained at its highest level since July 2014 for a third month, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. 

Food prices rose 7.4 percent year on year, which was the main reason behind the CPI increase last month. Vegetable prices surged 22.6 percent year on year, and meat prices surged 20.1 percent from a year earlier. 

NBS statistician Yu Qiumei said although vegetable prices dropped 12.5 percent from March, they were still much higher than a year earlier. Meanwhile, pork prices surged due to short supply. 

​On a month-on-month basis, the CPI dropped 0.2 percent in April, narrowing from a drop of 0.4 percent in March, the NBS said.

China producer price decline continues to narrow

China's producer prices continued to fall in April, but the decline was narrowing at a faster pace in a sign of improved aggregate demand, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday. 

The producer price index, a measure of costs for goods at the factory gate, fell 3.4 percent year on year, narrowing from a 4.3-percent drop in March and 4.9 percent in February. The reading also marked the 50th straight month of declines as China's economic slowdown and industrial overcapacity weighed on prices. 

Minsheng Securities attributed the easing contraction to a lower comparison last year and increasing infrastructure and property investments during the period, which drove up prices in certain upstream industries. But with property investment growth unlikely to sustain, the upward momentum will not continue for long, it added. 

​Month on month, producer prices in April edged up 0.7 percent. Output prices of production materials went down 4.5 percent year on year, contributing 3.3 percentage points to the PPI drop during the month, while those of consumer goods edged down 0.2 percent during the period. The data came along with the release of the consumer price inflation index (CPI), which stayed flat from the previous two months at 2.3 percent.

China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, slid 3.4 percent year on year in April, official statistics showed.