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Consumer Prices Up 0.1% in May
Chinese consumer prices rose slightly in May compared with the same month last year, a report from the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.
The consumer price index, a major price indicator of China's consumer goods, was up 0.1 per cent from May, 1999.
This was the first year-on-year rise since February and only the second in more than two years.
In April, the index declined 0.3 per cent from the same month a year earlier.
"The index was relatively stable in the first five months of 2000 compared with the same period of last year,'' the report said.
However, cheaper food led to a price fall in May compared with April, the report said.
Food items take up a large percentage of consumer spending in China, and seasonal factors such as bumper harvests can cause significant fluctuations in the consumer price index.
The price index in May was down 1 per cent from April, mainly because of a 20 per cent drop in the price of fresh vegetables.
Except Hainan Province, every part of China reported consumer prices dropping in May.
Food prices dropped 2.1 per cent compared with the previous month, the report said, and a majority of industrial consumption products dropped. However, the price for medical and health care products rose 0.2 per cent from April.
The price for residence and service items rose about 0.5 per cent and 0.2 per cent.
The retail index, which deducts services and utilities from the consumer price measure, dropped 0.9 per cent in May from the previous month, the report said.
In the first five months of this year, the retail price index declined 2 per cent from the same period last year.
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