Coronavirus: China’s inflation remained high in February, pork prices jumped 135 per cent

China’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 5.2 per cent in February from a year earlier, with pork prices jumping 135.2 per cent

China’s producer price index (PPI), reflecting the prices that factories charge wholesalers for their products, dropped 0.3 per cent year-on-year in February

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China’s producer price index (PPI), reflecting the prices that factories charge wholesalers for their products, dropped 0.3 per cent year-on-year in February, a decline on the 0.1 per cent rise in January. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 9:41am, 10 Mar 2020Updated: 4:37pm, 12 May 2020

China’s consumer inflation remained high in February amid the coronavirus outbreak, with official price figures also confirming the difficulties faced by manufacturers.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 5.2 per cent from a year earlier, down from a 5.4 per cent gain in January, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. The result matched the median forecast of analysts polled by Bloomberg.

The producer price index (PPI), reflecting the prices that factories charge wholesalers for their products, dropped 0.3 per cent year-on-year in February, a decline on the 0.1 per cent rise in January.

The result was below expectations in a Bloomberg survey for contraction of just 0.3 per cent.

The coronavirus outbreak is putting downward pressure on inflation. While supply chain disruptions have kept food prices high, weaker demand has weighed on the price of other goods and services

Julian Evans-Pritchard

“The coronavirus outbreak is putting downward pressure on inflation. While supply chain disruptions have kept food prices high, weaker demand has weighed on the price of other goods and services,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics.