China’s CPI stabilizes at 0.3% in May

The consumer price index (CPI), the main indicator of inflation in China, increased 0.3% year-on-year in May, which represents the same growth rate as the previous month. The indicator, released this Wednesday by the National Statistics Office (ONE) of the Asian country, remains in any case below what analysts expectedamong which the most widespread forecast was for an increase of 0.4% year-on-year.

In the month-on-month comparison, the

Consumer prices went from an increase of 0.1% in April to a drop by that same percentage in May. Experts expected this indicator to remain frozen at 0%, which would have meant that prices would move at the same level for the second consecutive month.

ONE statistician Dong Lijuan pointed out seasonal factors to explain the figuresfor example the rise in the prices of some foods due to the torrential rains in the south of the country or the drop in tourist prices after the International Labor Day holiday. Likewise, the government expert wanted to highlight that the Core inflation, a measure that excludes food and energy prices due to their volatility, increased 0.6% year-on-year in May.

The ONE also made public today the producer price index (PPI), which measures industrial prices and which moderated its decline by falling 1.4% compared to May of last year, a rate 1.1 points less negative than in the previous month. In this case, the figure exceeds the expectations of analysts, who placed the decline in industrial prices at 1.5% year-on-year. Dong attributed this relative improvement in data to the upward trend in the price of some raw materials internationally or to a recovery in the relationship between supply and demand in the domestic market for industrial products.