BEIJING: China’s consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, grew 2.3 percent year on year in November, up from October’s 2.1 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics announced Frdiay. On a month-on-month basis, the CPI rose 0.1 percent in November. NBS statistician Sheng Guoqing attributed the stronger growth of inflation to higher food and fuel prices. Vegetable prices jumped 5.5 percent month on month, as a cold weather front disrupted supplies, contributing 0.14 percentage points to the CPI growth. On a year-on-year basis, vegetable prices soared 15.8 percent, compared with 13-percent increase in October.
Prices of petrol, diesel, gas, coal, water and electricity also increased last month, again due to the cold weather. However, prices of fruit and pork continued to fall from October, down 2.2 percent and 1.9 percent. In addition, tourism costs including flight prices dipped, as the winter is a low season for travel. Since January 2016, CPI has been calculated using a new comparison base and included more products and services, while slightly reducing the weighting of food. China’s producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, continued its growth by rising 1.5 percent year on year in November, the highest in 56 months.
