China's CPI up 2.8 pct in September

BEIJING, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.8 percent year on year in September, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

On a monthly basis, September's CPI remained generally stable, reversing the 0.1-percent decline in August to inch up 0.3 percent.

Senior NBS statistician Dong Lijuan attributed the stable CPI performance to continuous efforts to coordinated COVID-19 prevention and control with economic and social development, as well as measures to ensure sufficient supply and stable prices.

Food prices went up 1.9 percent month on month, which raised the monthly consumer inflation by about 0.35 percentage points, according to the data.

Specifically, the price of fresh vegetables gained 6.8 percent month on month in September due to high temperatures and dry weather.

Driven by rising demand during the holiday season, the price of eggs and fresh fruits jumped by 6 percent and 1.3 percent from August, respectively.

Non-food prices rose 1.5 percent from a year ago, lifting the yearly consumer inflation by about 1.21 percentage points.

The prices of gasoline and diesel logged moderated year-on-year growth of 19.2 percent and 21 percent, respectively.

Friday's data also showed that China's producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went up 0.9 percent year on year in September.