Economic Observer Online

Dec 9, 2011
Translated by Pang Lei

Original Article: [Chinese] 


The National Bureau of Statistics announced earlier today that China's consumer price index (CPI) rose 4.2 percent year-on-year in November, a sharp slow down on the pace of growth registered in September, when the index rose by 5.5 percent compared to 12 months earlier.

 The reading for November was below the average 4.3 percent increase forecast by 10 economists surveyed by the EO, it is also the slowest pace of growth in the index this year.

According to the NBS, the CPI rose 4.2 percent in urban areas and 4.3 percent in rural areas. The rate of year-on-year increase in food prices slowed to 8.8 percent in November, down from an increase of 11.9 percent in October, contributing 2.7 percentage points to the overall growth in the indicator.

The price of meat, poultry and related products increased 19.6 percent year-on-year, contributing 1.31 percentage points to the overall increase in CPI. This was less than 26.1 percent year-on-year increase in the price of meat, poultry and related products registed in October and also down on the 28.4 percent increase in September.



According to the NBS, the pace at which the cost of housing increased also moderated in November. Housing-related prices were up by 3 percent which was less that the 4.4 percent rate registered in October - though the pace of increases in rental prices continued to rise, up 3.7 percent in November, slightly faster than the 3.6 percent increase in October and the 3.4 percent increase registered in September.



The producer price index (PPI), another measure of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 2.7 percent in October year-on-year, a sharp drop in pace from the 5.0 percent increase that the NBS reported for November.



Links and Sources
The Economic Observer: China\'s CPI Up 5.5% in October
National Bureau of Statistics: 2011年11月份居民消费价格变动情况
National Bureau of Statistics: 2011年11月份工业生产者价格变动情况