Guangzhou (JLC), November 9, 2022--China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.1% year on year in October, decelerating from a 2.8% increase in September, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Wednesday.
Senior NBS statistician Dong Lijuan attributed the slowdown to a relatively high base in the same month last year.
On a month-on-month comparison, October's CPI inched up 0.1%.
Breakdown data showed that food prices went up 0.1% month on month, moderating 1.8 percentage points from September.
Specifically, the prices of fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, and aquatic products reversed September's increases to decline by 4.5%, 1.6%, and 2.3%, month on month, respectively, as plenty of supplies hit the market and the demand weakened, Dong noted.
Pork, a staple meat in China, saw prices rise 9.4% month on month in October, expanding 4 percentage points over the previous month. The rise of pork prices was mainly driven by the shortage of supply, seasonal strengthening consumer demand, and "reluctance to sell" market sentiment, Dong said.
Non-food prices rose 1.1% from a year earlier, compared to the 1.5% rise in September, lifting consumer inflation by about 0.88 percentage points.
The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, gained 0.6% year on year in October, unchanged from the prior month.
Wednesday's data also showed China's producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went down 1.3% year on year in October, versus a 0.9% rise in September.
