GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The rate of growth of China’s consumer price index (CPI) fell to 2.2 percent in June, year on year, the slowest rate of growth in 29 months, the National Bureau of Statistics announced Monday. The downward drift reflects a larger economic slowdown, with the NBS attributing it mainly to a fall in some food prices, which account for almost one-third of the weighting in the CPI, reports Xinhua. Factory wholesale prices fell in some areas.
Property shares rose, reports Bloomberg, with developers optimistic that the new figures will encourage Premier Wen Jiabao to ease some controls to encourage growth. The price of crude oil rose in Asia, reports the Wall St Journal: “Crude-oil futures were moderately higher Monday in Asia, supported by hopes of monetary easing by China.”
Food prices rose 6.4 percent in May, compared to a year earlier but only 3,8 percent in June. The price of pork and eggs, Chinese food staples, fell, but the price of many vegetables rose as continuing rainfall has slowed down harvest.
The CPI rose by 3.3 percent in the first six months of 2012. “The Producer Price Index (PPI), a main gauge of inflation at the wholesale level, fell 2.1 percent in June from a year earlier. It was the lowest reading since December 2009,” according to Xinhua.
