China inflation: factory-gate prices surge by most in over three years

The producer price index (PPI), a gauge of industrial profitability, rose 6.8 per cent in April from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.9 per cent from a year earlier, compared with a 0.4 per cent rise in March

Reading Time:3 minutes

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.9 per cent in April from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said in a separate statement, compared with a 1.0 per cent rise tipped by a Reuters poll of analysts and a 0.4 per cent rise in March. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:45am, 11 May 2021Updated: 10:22pm, 11 May 2021

China’s factory gate prices rose at the fastest rate in three and a half years in April, official data showed on Tuesday, as the world’s second-largest economy continued to gather momentum following record-setting growth in the first quarter.

The producer price index (PPI), a gauge of industrial profitability, rose 6.8 per cent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, ahead of a 6.5 per cent rise tipped by a Reuters poll of analysts and a 4.4 per cent rise in March.

The consumer price index (CPI), however, rose a modest 0.9 per cent.

Investors globally are increasingly worried that coronavirus pandemic-driven stimulus measures could spark a rapid rise in inflation and force central banks to raise interest rates and take other tightening measures, potentially holding back economic recovery.

“Price surges have spread to midstream products, and will continue to affect midstream and downstream merchandise, driving an increase in costs for the whole society,” said Hu Yanhong, an analyst at Yingda Securities.