China's CPI up 1% in February

A consumer picks vegetables at a supermarket in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, on Feb 10. [PHOTO by JIA MINJIE/FOR CHINA DAILY]

China's consumer inflation eased in February to a 12-month low, while its factory-gate prices showed an annual fall for a fifth month, official data showed on Thursday.

China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, climbed 1 percent from a year earlier in February after a three-month high of 2.1 percent in January, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Food prices increased by 2.6 percent in February compared with a year ago, down from 6.2 percent in January. Pork, a staple in Chinese cuisine, saw prices surge by 3.9 percent, down from a rise of 11.8 percent in January. The prices of potatoes, fresh fruit, eggs and poultry rose by 14.4 percent, 8.5 percent, 7.9 percent and 6.4 percent respectively, all deflating from the increases reported in January.

On a month-on-month basis, February's CPI declined by 0.5 percent, while January's CPI increased by 0.8 percent, the NBS said.

The growth in core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices and is deemed a better gauge of the supply-demand relationship in the economy, rose by 0.6 percent year-on-year in February after a 1 percent rise in January.

Dong Lijuan, an NBS statistician, attributed the consumer inflation eased in February due to factors including the decline in consumer demand after the January Spring Festival holiday and sufficient market supplies, while the fall in factory-gate prices was affected by a high comparison base in the previous year.

The producer price index, which gauges factory-gate prices, was down 1.4 percent from a year earlier in February, compared with a 0.8 percent annual contraction seen in January, the NBS said.

On a month-on-month basis, no factory-gate price growth or decline was registered in February, while the PPI declined by 0.4 percent in January, said the NBS.