Chinanews.com, April 19th. The National Development and Reform Commission held a regular press conference in April today. In response to the issue of rising commodity prices, spokesperson Meng Wei said that this is a gradual recovery of the global economy, short-term adjustments in supply and demand, and liquidity. As a result of the interweaving of various factors such as sexual abundance and speculation, prices do not have the basis for long-term rise.

Data map: Enterprise production workshop.

Photo by Liu Yuan

  A reporter asked at the press conference: Since the beginning of this year, with the accelerated rise in commodity prices, global inflation expectations have risen.

From a domestic perspective, will the upstream price increase gradually spread to the downstream, triggering a new round of domestic inflation expectations?

How do you see the CPI trend for the whole year of 2021?

  Meng Wei said that in recent times, the rise in commodity prices and the warming of global inflation have aroused widespread concern from all quarters.

In general, this is the result of the interweaving of multiple factors such as the gradual recovery of the global economy, short-term adjustments in the relationship between supply and demand, ample liquidity, and speculation.

At the same time, everyone has seen that the recovery of the world economy is still unstable and unbalanced. There have been no overall or trend changes in the supply and demand of bulk commodities, and their prices do not have the basis for long-term increases.

  Meng Wei pointed out that at present, my country's economy has been deeply integrated into the global economy, and price trends will be objectively affected by external factors, but this transmission effect is generally limited and controllable.

The main reason for this is that my country has strong domestic market support, China's economic development has sufficient resilience and potential, and at the same time, there is sufficient macro policy space, the industrial cycle, market cycle, and supply and demand cycle are significantly improved, and the new development pattern is being accelerated.

Therefore, the stable operation of prices has a solid foundation.

  Meng Wei said that the overall judgment is that prices will run within a reasonable range for a period of time in the future.

Specific to the CPI, it can be seen that food and services account for a high proportion of the CPI, and are less affected by international factors. The food supply is abundant. The price of pork gradually returns to the normal level as the production of pigs resumes, and the prices of vegetables and fruits will show seasonality. Changes, these are the "ballast stones" for the smooth operation of the CPI; at the same time, industrial consumer products have sufficient production capacity, ample supply, sufficient market competition, and prices are expected to remain basically stable.

It is expected that the year-on-year increase in CPI this year will show a moderate upward trend, which can be kept within the annual price control target.