CPI and PPI Rise Slightly while Maintaining Stability in August 2018

2019-01-11 18:00:00 | Source:National Bureau of Statistics

    The National Bureau of Statistics released today the data of the National Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Industrial Producer Price Index (PPI) in August 2018. In this regard, Sheng Guoqing, a senior statistician from the Department of Urban Surveys of the National Bureau of Statistics, gave his interpretation.

  I. Month-on-month and year-on-year growth of CPI rises steadily

  On a month-on-month basis, CPI rose by 0.7%, with an increase of 0.4% over last month, mainly affected by the rapidly rising food prices. Food prices rose by 2.4%, with an increase of 2.3% over last month, causing the CPI to rise by 0.46%. Affected by high temperature and rainy weather, fresh vegetable prices rose by 9.0%, with an increase of 7.3% over last month, causing the CPI to rise by about 0.21%. North China, Northeast China and Shandong were affected northward by the residual circulation of typhoon and suffered from rare heavy rainfall, as a result of which the prices of fresh vegetables in Liaoning, Jilin, and Shandong rose by 29.7%, 22.3% and 21.8%, respectively, while those in Tianjin, Beijing and Heilongjiang rose by 16.1%, 15.2% and 14.6%, respectively. This summer was hot and lasted long, pigs grew slowly, epidemics occurred again in local areas, market supply tended to be tight, and the pork price rose by 6.5%, with an increase of 3.6% over last month, causing the CPI to rise by about 0.14%. The high-temperature weather also affected the laying rate of laying hens. In addition, with the approaching of the new school year and the Mid-Autumn Festival, the demand for eggs increased, and the price of eggs increased by 13.7%, flat from last month, causing the CPI to rise by about 0.07%. Non-food prices rose by 0.2%, 0.1% lower than last month, causing the CPI to rise by about 0.20%. The rising rent drove the housing price to increase by 0.5%; the price of health care rose by 0.4%; owing to the large number of travels, the price of air tickets, hotel accommodation and tourism rose by 1.8%, 1.2%, and 0.5%, respectively; the prices of gasoline and diesel both rose by 0.3% due to the price adjustment of refined oil products.

    On a year-on-year basis, CPI rose by 2.3%, with an increase of 0.2% over last month. The average CPI from January to August rose by 2.0%, flat from January to July, showing a stable trend. Food prices rose by 1.7%, causing the CPI to rise by about 0.33%. The prices of eggs, vegetables and fruits rose by 10.3%, 4.3%, and 5.5%, respectively, causing the CPI to rise by about 0.25%; the prices of beef, mutton and poultry rose by 3.3%, 13.3%, and 5.5%, respectively, causing the CPI to rise by about 0.13%; the price of pork fell by 4.9%, and the decline continued to narrow, causing the CPI to decline by about 0.12%; the price of edible oil fell by 0.6%, causing the CPI to decline by about 0.01%. Non-food prices rose by 2.5%, causing the CPI to rise by about 1.98%. Among them, the following prices were greatly affected. For example, gasoline and diesel prices rose by 19.8% and 22.0%, tourism price rose by 5.6%, health care price rose by 4.3%, the price of education services rose by 2.8%, and housing price rose by 2.5%. The core CPI excluding food and energy prices rose by 2.0% on a year-on-year basis, with an increase of 0.1% compared to last month. It is estimated that the carryover effects of price changes in last year contributed about 1% and new price-rising factors contributed about 1.3% to the 2.3% year-on-year increase of the CPI in August. 

  II. PPI achieves expanded month-on-month increase and narrowed year-on-year increase

    On a month-on-month basis, PPI rose by 0.4%, with an increase of 0.3% over last month. The price of means of production rose by 0.5%, with an increase of 0.4% over last month; the price of means of livelihood rose by 0.3%, with an increase of 0.1%. Among the 40 industrial categories surveyed, 30 industries saw rising prices, 4 industries saw flat prices and 6 industries saw declining prices. Among major industries, the prices of the ferrous metal smelting and rolling industry rose by 2.1%, with an increase of 1.6% over last month; the prices of oil, coal and other fuel processing industries rose by 1.7%, with an increase of 0.8%. The prices of chemical raw materials and chemical manufacturing industry rose by 0.6% from a decline. The prices of ferrous metal smelting and rolling industry declined by 0.1%, narrowing down by 1.5% as against last month. 

  On a year-on-year basis, PPI rose by 4.1%, with a decline of 0.5% over last month. The average PPI from January to August rose by 4.0%, flat from January to July, also showing a stable trend. The price of means of production rose by 5.2%, with a decline of 0.8% over last month; the price of means of livelihood rose by 0.7%, with an increase of 0.1% over last month. Among major industries, oil and gas mining industries rose 39.6%, with a decline of 2.5% over last month; oil, coal and other fuel processing industries rose by 22.7%, with a decline of 1.9%; ferrous metal smelting and rolling industry rose by 9.5%, with a decline of 2.8% over last month; coal mining and washing industry rose by 5.7%, with a decline of 1.3%; ferrous metal smelting and rolling industry rose by 1.2%, with a decline of 3.8%. The above five major industries together caused the PPI to decline by about 0.46% on a year-on-year basis. However, the chemical fiber manufacturing industry rose by 6.9%, with an increase of 1.3% over last month. It is estimated that carryover effects of price changes in last year contributed about 3.0% and new price-rising factors contributed about 1.1% to the 4.1% year-on-year increase of the PPI in August