The politically sensitive food inflation jumped to a three-year high of 6.1 percent in April from 4.1 percent in March, as prices of pork surged 14.4 percent, the second straight month of increase in over two years, after a 5.1 percent gain in March. In addition, prices increased sharply for fresh vegetables (17.4 percent vs 16.2 percent), fresh fruit (11.9 percent vs 7.7 percent), and eggs (3.7 percent vs -1.9 percent). At the same time, cost of edible oil fell at a softer rate (-0.3 percent vs -0.4 percent).
Non-food price inflation came in at 1.7 percent in April, little-changed from the prior's month 1.8 percent. Prices rose at softer pace for clothing (1.8 percent vs 2 percent); rent, fuel & utilities (2 percent vs 2.1 percent); household goods & services (1.1 percent vs 1.2 percent); and healthcare (2.6 percent vs 2.7 percent). Meanwhile, inflation was unchanged for other goods & services (at 1.9 percent) and picked up for education, culture & recreation (2.5 percent vs 2.4 percent). Transport & communication prices fell 0.5 percent, after a 0.1 percent gain in March.
Annual core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, edged down to 1.7 percent in April, the lowest in seven months, from 1.8 percent in March.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices increased by 0.1 percent in April, reversing a 0.4 percent fall in March and also in line with expectations.
Meanwhile,
China's producer price index increased by 0.9 percent from a year earlier in April, accelerating from a 0.4 percent rise in the previous month and beating market expectations of a 0.6 percent gain. Prices of means of production picked up firmly (0.9 percent vs 0.3 percent), with cost increasing faster for both processing (0.9 percent vs 0.4 percent) and extraction (5.3 percent vs 4.2 percent), while prices of raw materials were flat (vs -0.6 percent in March). In addition, consumer goods inflation surged to 0.9 percent from 0.5 percent, of which food productions (1.9 percent vs 1.2 percent), clothing (at 1.7 percent) and daily use goods (at 0.3 percent), while prices dropped at a slower rate for durable goods (-0.6 percent vs -0.7 percent). On a monthly basis, producer prices rose 0.3 percent in April, following a 0.1 percent gain in March.