China’s consumer inflation up 2.5% in October

2018-11-09
Xinhua

BEIJING — China’s consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.5 percent year-on-year in October, unchanged from that in September, data showed on Nov 9.

That ended a rising streak for four consecutive months.

For the first 10 months, the CPI gained 2.1 percent from one year earlier, well below the government’s target ceiling of 3 percent for 2018, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The data showed that food prices jumped 3.3 percent from October of last year. Prices of fresh fruits, vegetables and eggs climbed 11.5 percent, 10.1 percent and 7.8 percent, respectively, year-on-year. Pork prices fell 1.3 percent year-on-year, but climbed 1 percent from the previous month.

Nonfood prices rose 2.4 percent from one year earlier, accelerating from a rise of 2.2 percent registered in September, according to the NBS.

Housing rent climbed 2.5 percent year-on-year, while prices for education and healthcare rose 3.2 percent and 2.6 percent respectively.

On a monthly basis, the CPI edged up 0.2 percent last month.

The producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, rose 3.3 percent year-on-year in October, with the pace of growth slowing for a fourth month.