A consumer picks vegetables at a supermarket in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, on Feb 10, 2023. (JIA MINJIE / FOR CHINA DAILY)
BEIJING – China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, edged up 0.1 percent year-on-year in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.
The figure was lowered than the 0.7-percent increase in March. On a monthly basis, the prices were slightly down by 0.1 percent, narrowing from the 0.3-percent decline in the previous month.
NBS statistician Dong Lijuan attributed the slower year-on-year price increase to a high base in the corresponding period of 2022, when the inflation growth came in at 2.1 percent.
The core CPI, deducting food and energy prices, was up by 0.7 percent from a year earlier and by 0.1 percent month-on-month
"In April, the market supply was generally sufficient and consumer demand gradually recovered," Dong said.
The core CPI, deducting food and energy prices, was up by 0.7 percent from a year earlier and by 0.1 percent month-on-month.
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On the costs for goods at the factory gate, the producer price index (PPI) went down 3.6 percent year-on-year in April, NBS data showed.
The decrease expanded by 1.1 percentage points from that registered in March. On a monthly basis, China's PPI edged down 0.5 percent, according to the bureau.
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Affected by the fluctuation of international commodity prices, weak demand in domestic and foreign markets and the high comparison base of the same period last year, the PPI declined, said Dong.