MNI BRIEF: China Aug CPI Rises To Half-year High At 0.6% Y/y

MNI (BEIJING) - China's Consumer Price Index rose 0.6% y/y in August to a six-month high, accelerating from July’s 0.5% but underperforming the 0.7% consensus, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Monday.

Food prices rose 2.8% y/y led by a 21.8% increase in vegetable prices due to extreme weather, driving up CPI by 0.51 percentage points. Non-food prices rose 0.2%, pushing up the headline figure by 0.13 pp.

On a monthly basis, CPI rose 0.4%, moderating from July's 0.5%, as travel demand declined by the end of summer holiday with air tickets and tourism prices falling by 5.1% and 0.7% m/m.

PPI declined 1.8% y/y, expanding from last month’s 0.8% decline and marking the 23rd consecutive negative reading, missing the market consensus of -1.5%. PPI fell 0.7% m/m, also expanding from July’s 0.2% fall, driven by weak demand and falling international commodity prices, the NBS said.