Year-on-year, decreases in prices were recorded for electricity, gas and water (-7.5 percent vs -7.6 percent in January); food (excluding meals bought away from home) (-3.7 percent vs 2.3 percent); durable goods (-3.7 percent vs -3.9 percent); clothing and footwear (-3.3 percent vs -2.9 percent) and miscellaneous services (-1.1 percent vs 3.6 percent). In contrast, increases were seen for transport (3.1 percent vs 2.4 percent), meals bought away from home (2.8 percent vs 3.1 percent), alcoholic drinks and tobacco (2.7 percent vs 1.6 percent) and miscellaneous goods (2.5 percent vs 2.4 percent).
Underlying consumer prices, which exclude the effects of one-off government relief measures went up 0.7 percent compared to 2.1 percent in January as the difference in the timing of the Lunar New Year resulted in lower charges for package tours. Another downward pressure came from falling prices of fresh vegetables.