China’s consumer inflation eased in October, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) growing by 0.3% year-on-year, slowing from the 0.4% growth in the previous month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
For the first ten months of the year, CPI grew by 0.3% from a year earlier, showed the data.
The core CPI, which excludes food and energy, saw a year-on-year increase of 0.2% in October, picking up by 0.1 percentage points.
Food prices grew by 2.9% on year in October from the previous month, slowing by 0.4 percentage points from September, with prices for fresh vegetables, pork, and fresh fruit growing by 21.6%, 14.2%, and 4.7%, respectively, slowing from September, while prices for beef, lamb, cooking oil, and eggs falling by 2.7% – 13.4%.
For non-food items, the drop widened by 0.1 percentage points to 0.3% year-on-year. Energy prices declined by 5.1%, expanding by 1.6 percentage points, with gasoline prices sliding by 10.7%.
Excluding energy, the price decline in industrial consumer goods remained stable at 0.2%, with prices for new energy vehicles and fuel-powered cars falling by 6.6% and 6.1%, respectively. Service prices grew 0.4%, picking up by 0.2 percentage points, with vehicle rental fees rising by 3.2%, and the decline in tourism prices narrowing to 0.4%.
On a month-on-month basis, CPI returned to decline for the first time since July, falling by 0.3% in October, compared to zero change in September, showed the data.
Food prices, which had increased by 0.8% in September, fell by 1.2% in October, making it the biggest drag.
Favorable weather conditions facilitated the production, storage, and transportation of foods, coupled with prior price increases due to extreme weather, prices for pork, fresh vegetables, seafood, and fresh fruits all declined, collectively leading to about 0.2-percentage-point drop of CPI and accounting for around 70% of the total CPI drop.
Non-food prices remained unchanged month-on-month in October, compared to a 0.2% decline in September. Due to fluctuations in international oil prices, domestic gasoline prices were raised twice in October, though slightly, and the average price for the month fell by 1.5% from the previous month.
