MNI 5 THINGS: China Consumer Prices Rise to Highest Since Feb

     BEIJING (MNI) - Here are five major highlights from China's consumer price

index (CPI) and producer price index (PPI) data released by the National Bureau

of Statistics on Thursday:

     -CPI rose 0.3% m/m in July, ending the slide in the last four months and

was highest level since the 1.2% gain in February.

     -Food prices rose 0.1% m/m from the 0.8% m/m drop in June, non-food items

gained 0.3% m/m, up from the 0.1% m/m growth in June. China slapped 25% tariffs

on U.S. goods worth $34 billion starting July 6. 

     -CPI y/y growth was 2.1%, the highest since 2.9% growth in February and

higher than the median of 1.9% in an MNI survey. In the first seven months,

consumer prices rose 2% y/y.

     -PPI gained 4.6% in July y/y, higher than the median estimate of 4.4% in a

MNI survey. PPI rose by 0.1% m/m, down from the 0.3% gain in June. Ex-factory

price decrease of the following sectors contributed to the PPI m/m slowing:

petroleum and natural gas extraction price fell by 3.2 percentage points;

gasoline, coal and other fuel processing dropped 1.4 percentage points; and

ferrous metals smelting and flattening lost 0.6 percentage point.

     -Price gains in crude and natural gas production, 1.3% m/m and 42.1% y/y,

fueled the PPI growth in July.

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: iris.ouyang@marketnews.com

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 10 8532 5998; email: william.bi@mni-news.com

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