Posted on 10 Mar 2023
For February, China's Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 1% on year but dropped 0.5% on month, while its Producer Price Index (PPI) fell 1.4% on year and stayed unchanged on month, according to the latest release from the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday morning.
China's consumer demand weakened in February as people gradually returned to their normal life post the nationwide Chinese New Year celebrations, while the consumer goods supply was ample last month, both of which put a drag on the country's CPI, according to Dong Lijuan, a senior statistician with the NBS.
For example, in February, Chinese food prices dropped 2% on month, with the prices of pork, fresh vegetables and eggs falling 11.4%, 4.4% and 3.6% respectively from January, NBS data showed. On a yearly basis, the country's food prices increased 2.6% in February, smaller than January's increment of 6.2%.
Chinese consumer demand for travel entered the low season in February, according to Dong. The NBS data showed that the prices of air tickets and tourism lost 12% and 6.5% on month respectively, though compared with the same period last year they increased 19.9% and 3%.
China's CPI for February this year grew slower on year, mainly as Chinese New Year 2022 fell in February when the celebrations had driven domestic consumer prices to a high level, leading to a high base effect, Dong noted.
Regarding China's PPI, it stayed stable in February after sliding 0.4% in the prior month, as domestic industrial enterprises cranked up their production in response to a recovery of demand, Dong pointed out.
In February, Chinese prices in steelmaking and fabrication industry gained 1.7% on month, and those in non-ferrous metals manufacturing and processing industry went up 1%, according to NBS data. On a yearly basis, however, the prices in the two sectors dropped 10.9% and 5.3% respectively.
Prices in China's oil and natural gas drilling increased 1.7% on month in February, though they dropped 3% on year due to the high oil prices in the same period last year, NBS data showed.
Meanwhile, domestic prices in coal mining and processing sector dropped 2.2% on month, as the country's coal demand declined with the temperatures warming up.
Over January-February, China's CPI gained 1.5% on year, while PPI decreased 1.1% on year, according to NBS's latest statistics.
Source:Mysteel Global
