BEIJING – China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, declined 0.2 percent year-on-year in February due to a higher comparison base last year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Wednesday.
Food prices went down 0.2 percent year-on-year, dragging down the consumer inflation by 0.05 percentage points, according to the data.
The decline was largely driven by the carryover effect as the COVID-19 outbreak boosted prices of consumer goods in February last year and resulted in a higher base.
The carryover effect sent the CPI inflation down by 1.8 percentage points, while new price increases pulled the growth up by 1.6 percentage points, the NBS data showed.
On a monthly basis, the CPI gained 0.6 percent, with food prices up 1.6 percent due to rising demand and increasing logistics cost during the Spring Festival, which fell in February this year, noted Dong Lijuan, a senior statistician with the NBS.
Wednesday's data also showed China's producer prices, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, rose 1.7 percent year-on-year in February.
On a monthly basis, the CPI gained 0.6 percent, with food prices up 1.6 percent due to rising demand and increasing logistics cost during the Spring Festival, which fell in February this year, noted Dong Lijuan, a senior statistician with the NBS
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PPI up 1.7%
China's producer prices went up in February amid a steady recovery in domestic demand, official data showed Wednesday.
China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went up 1.7 percent year-on-year in February, up from 0.3-percent rise in January, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Wednesday.
On a monthly basis, the PPI rose 0.8 percent last month, down from the 1-percent increase in January, said NBS senior statistician Dong Lijuan.
Among the 40 surveyed industrial sectors, 25 saw prices increase month on month, while 10 reported price drops and five witnessed unchanged prices.
A breakdown of the data showed that the PPI for the domestic oil and natural gas extraction sector rose 7.5 percent month on month due to continued growth in international crude oil prices.
On a monthly basis, the PPI rose 0.8 percent last month, down from the 1-percent increase in January, said NBS senior statistician Dong Lijuan
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Rising domestic demand boosted prices for the non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry, with its PPI up 1.5 percent month on month.
The PPI for gas production and supply sector dropped 0.7 percent month on month on eased demand for winter heating, Dong said.
In the first two months, the PPI rose 1 percent on average year-on-year, according to the NBS.
The PPI data came along with the release of the consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, which declined 0.2 percent year-on-year in February.