China News Service, Beijing, August 9 (Reporter Wang Enbo) The National Bureau of Statistics of China announced on the 9th that in July, China's consumer price index (CPI) rose by 1.0% year-on-year, and the increase was 0.1% lower than the previous month.

Among them, pork prices fell by 43.5%, an increase of 7.0 percentage points from the previous month.

  Wen Bin, chief researcher of China Minsheng Bank, pointed out that the year-on-year increase in CPI fell in July, mainly due to the fall in food prices.

Food prices in the month fell by 3.7% year-on-year, affecting the CPI drop by about 0.69 percentage points.

As the supply of live pigs continues to be repaired, the decline in pork prices has expanded again, which is the main factor leading to the continued fall in food prices.

  In July, among the non-food prices, the prices of seven categories increased six and one fell year-on-year.

Among the categories of price increases, the prices of transportation and communications, education and culture, and entertainment rose rapidly. This month, they rose by 6.9% and 2.7% year-on-year, respectively, and the increase was 1.1 and 1.2 percentage points higher than the previous month.

  From a month-on-month comparison that better reflects recent price changes, in July, China’s CPI went from a 0.4% drop in the previous month to an increase of 0.3%.

Among them, food prices fell by 0.4%, and the rate of decline narrowed by 1.8 percentage points from the previous month, which affected the CPI drop by about 0.06 percentage points; non-food prices changed from flat last month to an increase of 0.5%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.37 percentage points.

  In food, affected by extreme weather such as typhoons and heavy rainfall in some areas, the cost of fresh vegetable production, storage and transportation increased, and the price dropped from 2.3% last month to 1.3%; the supply of pork continued to increase, and the price continued to drop by 1.9%. Supported by the reserve pork purchasing and storage policy, the rate of decline was significantly narrowed by 11.7% from the previous month.

  Wen Bin specifically mentioned that in July, China’s core CPI rose by 1.3% year-on-year, a new high since February 2020, and the increase was 0.4 percentage points higher than the previous month, indicating that prices other than food and energy have risen, especially Service prices rose by 1.6% year-on-year, an increase of 0.6 percentage points from the previous month.

On the whole, the downward trend of pork and other food prices may continue. The CPI is likely to maintain a moderate trend during the year, the inflation level is generally controllable, and the overall impact on monetary policy is limited.

(Finish)