China's
consumer inflation rate rose 2% in August from a year earlier, below the
government's target of 3.5% and marking a four-month low.
The
country's official consumer price index (CPI) figure is its main inflation
gauge and the August figure compares with a rise of 2.3% in July.
Lower
prices for pork, a Chinese staple, contributed to the monthly CPI reading,
state news agency Xinhua said.
Pork
prices dropped by 3.1% during the period.
However,
the cost of fresh fruit rose by
21.2%, a factor that pushed the CPI reading up
by 0.41 percentage points, official data showed.
Looking
ahead, though, analysts said that falling pig stocks in China would soon drive
an increase in pork prices.
"In
the months ahead, with pork prices rising, food inflation might start to pick
up," economist Julian Evans-Pritchard from Capital Economics told the BBC.
"I
think overall we don't expect inflation to go above 3.5% this year," he
said.
Other
analysts said an interest rate cut would be unlikely even though low inflation
might warrant further easing.
"...
given Premier Li has mentioned clearly that there will be no big stimulus and
no aggressive easing ... (authorities) are probably still in a wait-and-see
mode," said economist Dongming Xie from OCBC Bank in Singapore.
Wholesale prices
Wholesale
prices of production materials fell 1.7% for the month
China
also released its monthly wholesale inflation rate for August, which measures
factory prices for consumer goods, as well as wholesale prices of production
materials.
According
to official data, the producer price index (PPI) fell by 1.2% from a year
earlier, marking 30 straight months of falls.
Analysts
said the numbers suggested excess capacity in the industrial sector.
The
factory price - or wholesale price of consumer goods - gained just 0.2% for the
period, but wholesale prices of production materials fell 1.7% for the month.
Xinhua
said the the data marked existing pressures from slowing economic growth in the
country.
BBC
Business
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