China’s retail sales rose 2% year-on-year in June. July data is due to be released on Thursday, Aug. 15. Pictured is a shopping mall in Beijing on Aug. 7, 2024.
Pedro Pardo | AFP | Getty Images
BEIJING — China’s consumer prices rose 0.5 percent in July from a year earlier, a stronger-than-expected increase, due to higher pork prices, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the consumer price index to rise slightly to 0.3 percent year-on-year in July, from 0.2 percent in June.
Official data obtained via Wind Information showed the CPI rose 0.5% in July, the highest since a 0.7% increase in February. China’s biggest annual holiday, the Lunar New Year, falls in February this year.
Prices for pork, a widely consumed staple food in China, rose 20.4% year-on-year in July, the biggest increase since December 2022, according to Wind.
Pork prices play an important role in China’s consumer price index but are prone to large fluctuations due to disease and other factors affecting production.
Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.4% year-on-year in July, down from 0.6% in June.
The producer price index fell 0.8% from a year ago in July, slightly less than the 0.9% decline expected and unchanged from June’s 0.8% decline.
China said on Wednesday that imports in July rose 7.2% from a year earlier, beating expectations, while exports rose 7%, below expectations.
Exports have been a bright spot amid slowing economic growth.
Retail sales rose a modest 2% in June from a year earlier, and authorities have since expanded trade-in programs to encourage consumers to buy cars, appliances and certain other products.
China is due to release retail sales, industrial production and other data for July on Thursday.
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