Blue line = m-o-m growth
                    

Mar 9, 2012
Translated by Pang Lei

The National Bureau of Statistics announced earlier today that China's consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.2 percent year-on-year in February, a significant decrease on the pace of growth registered in January, when the index rose by 4.5 percent compared to 12 months earlier.

The CPI was up 5.4 percent in 2011 from the previous year, well above the government's full-year inflation control target of 4 percent. China's Premier Wen Jiabao once again set the target inflation rate at 4 percent for 2012 when delivering his annual work report to the National People's Congress earlier this week.

The inflation rate in February returned to its declining tread, after January's figure broke five-straight-months of declines. The indicator hit a 37-month high of 6.5 percent in July 2011, according to the NBS data.

According to the NBS, the CPI rose 3.2 percent in urban areas and 3.2 percent in rural areas. The rate of year-on-year increase in food prices picked up to 6.2 percent in January a slow down from the increase of 10.5 percent registered in January, contributing 1.99 percentage points to the overall growth in the indicator. 



The price of meat, poultry and related products increased 12.9 percent year-on-year, contributing 0.90 percentage points to the overall increase in CPI. This was less than the 18.7 percent year-on-year increase in the price of meat, poultry and related products registered in January.



According to the NBS, the pace at which the cost of housing increased increased slightly in January. Housing-related prices were up by 2.1 percent, which was more that the 1.9 percent rate registered in January.



The producer price index (PPI), another measure of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 1.0 percent in January year-on-year, up from the 0.7 percent increase in January but still a long way from the 5.0 percent pace of growth that the NBS reported for October.



Links and Sources
National Bureau of Statistics: 2012年2月份居民消费价格变动情况
National Bureau of Statistics: 2012年2月份工业生产者价格变动情况