MNI DATA IMPACT: China May CPI Hits 15-month High

     BEIJING (MNI) - China's CPI rose to 2.7% y/y in May, edging up from April's

2.5% to hit a 15-month high. An MNI survey of economists had projected the

headline number to come in at 2.7%.

     Here are other points of note from the data released by the National Bureau

of Statistics on Wednesday:

     --The y/y CPI gain was mainly due to higher food prices which rose 7.7%

y/y. Fresh fruit prices hit a record high with 26.7% y/y growth from 11.9% in

April, while the price of pork continued to accelerate to 18.2% y/y, compared

with April's 14.4% gain. These two categories have driven up the headline CPI by

0.86 percentage points.

     --CPI growth was flat from April on a monthly basis. Food prices rose 0.2%

m/m, reversing a 0.1% decline in April. Prices of non-food items rose 0.0% m/m.

     - The producer price index (PPI) rose 0.6% y/y, down from April's 0.9%, in

line with the 0.6% forecast gain in an MNI survey. The PPI rose 0.2% monthly,

compared with a 0.3% m/m gain in April.

     - Ex-factory prices of oil and gas exploration as well as oil, coal and

other fuel processing saw lower gains at 6.7% and 2.3% y/y, contracting 3.4 and

1.9 percentage points from April. Car manufacturing widened the decline to 0.7%

y/y from April's 0.5% fall.

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

--MNI Sydney Bureau; +61 405322399; email: lachlan.colquhoun.ext@marketnews.com

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