MNI DATA IMPACT: China November CPI at 4.5% for 8-Yr High

     BEIJING (MNI) - Inflation in China surged to 4.5% in November, well above

the government-imposed 3% ceiling for the whole year and the highest since

January 2012. The result beat the 4.3% expected by most economists. Meanwhile,

producer prices saw a marginal recovery, but are still at the lowest level since

July 2016.

     Here are key takeaways from data released by the National Bureau of

Statistics on Tuesday:

     - The CPI's surge was again due to higher pork prices, which accelerated to

110.2% y/y from October's gain of 101.3%. Rising pork prices continued to fuel

costs of beef, mutton, chicken, duck and eggs, which rose between 11.8% to 25.7%

y/y.

     - Food prices, the main driver for the CPI, grew by 19.1% y/y, accounting

for 3.72 percentage points, or four-fifths of the CPI gain.

     --The CPI gained 0.4% monthly, down from 0.9% in the previous month. 

     - The PPI slightly recovered to -1.4% y/y from -1.6% in October, mainly due

to the high base for the same period last year. The figure was better than the

forecast -1.5%.

     - Oil and gas extraction, fuel processing, and ferrous metal processing

improved from last month's losses but still dropped by 11.2%, 9.9% and 5.3%

respectively.

     - The PPI still lost 0.1% in November-October, compared with a 0.1% gain

October-September.

--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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