Surging pork costs main driver of inflation
China’s annual inflation rate increased to 2.7% in July from 2.5% in June, the fastest rise in consumer prices since July 2020, with pork prices surging 20.2% year-on-year,according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics data on Wednesday.
The figure was below market forecasts of 2.9%, while China has a 3% inflation target for 2022.
Food prices increased 6.3% versus 2.9% in June, the biggest in 22 months.
Non-food prices rose by 1.9% in July, 0.6 percentage points lower than the previous month.
Among them, the prices of gasoline, diesel, and liquefied petroleum gas rose by 24.6%, 26.7%, and 22.4%, respectively, all of which fell back.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.5% in July in line with market forecasts.
Unlike the US and other major economies, inflation in China remained low this year mainly due to zero-COVID measures that cut consumer and business spending.