On December 9,the NBS (National Bureau of Statistics) released the CPI and PPI data for November, showing that the CPI has increased 3.0% on a year-on-year basis. The figures can be broken down into 3.0% for the urban area and 3.1% for the rural area. Food prices have increased by 5.9% and other costs by 1.6%. Consumer product prices have increased by 2.9% and service prices by 3.3%. Experts have provided a preliminary interpretation of the data:

Yu Qiumei: CPI and PPI remain steady

Yu Qiumei, senior statistician of NBS City Division, said that in November food prices had been subject to various month to month fluctuations depending on the type of product, but generally there had been a slight drop. Specifically, the price of grain, beef, mutton, milk and fruit had increased by varying degrees on a month to month basis, while the price of pork, eggs, vegetables and aquatic products had dropped on a month to month basis. Additionally, although nationwide vegetable prices had fallen by an average of 3.8% on a month to month basis, there had been significant geographic variations in the price change.

The drop in PPI has narrowed slightly on a year-on-year basis. Judging from the month to month data, production material prices have remained stable, while the price of consumer goods like food and clothes has increased steadily.
　
Lu Zhengwei: low inflationary pressure is good for a smooth economic adjustment

Lu Zhengwei, Chief Economist and Chief Research Officer of China Industrial Bank, said in his microblog that the CPI is 0.1% lower than their prediction on Oct 25, and 0.2% lower than last month’s CPI. The prices of both food and non-food items were dropping at the same time, and inflationary pressure is low. The PPI is consistent with their forecasts. Since the price of various major industrial products had been subject to both upward and downward fluctuations, in general there was no obvious change compared with the previous month, which suggests that enterprises are still experiencing some problems. Based on this data, he suggested that the market interest rate should fall back to a reasonable level, so as to support a smooth economic adjustment.

Cao Fengqi: positive economic prospect stabilizes CPI

Cao Fengqi, Director of Finance & Securities Research Center of Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, told media that the figures were within a manageable range. For months, the figures have remained relatively stable, owing to the positive economic outlook in the second half of the year. Policies released during the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee had given confidence to businesses, with the result that investment is on the rise.

Edited and Translated by Kong Defang, People's Daily Online.