China's consumer inflation rises marginally in May

China's consumer inflation picked up marginally in May, while factory-gate price decline sped up due to weaker demand, official data showed on Friday.

China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, climbed 0.2 percent from a year earlier in May, up from the 0.1 percent gain in April, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Food prices rose by 1 percent in May compared with a year ago, up from the 0.4 percent rise in April. Pork, a staple in Chinese cuisine, saw prices decline by 3.2 percent in May after a 4 percent rise in April.

The prices of poultry, cooking oil and fresh fruits increased by 5.6 percent, 3.6 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively, down from those in the previous month. The prices of fresh vegetables dipped 1.7 percent in May, narrowing from a 13.5 percent decline in April.

Notably, prices for industrial consumer products declined 1.7 percent in May after a 1.5 percent fall in April.

On a month-on-month basis, May's CPI dipped 0.2 percent after a 0.1 percent decline in April, the NBS said.

The growth in core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices and is deemed a better gauge of the supply-demand relationship in the economy, rose by 0.6 percent year-on-year in May, down from a 0.7 percent rise in April.

Dong Lijuan, an NBS statistician, said the consumer inflation picked up marginally with the gradual recovery in consumer demand, while the fall in factory-gate prices was affected by declining international commodity prices, weak demand for industrial products at both home and abroad, as well as a high comparison base in the previous year.

The producer price index, which gauges factory-gate prices, was down 4.6 percent from a year earlier in May, compared with the 3.6 percent annual contraction seen in April, the NBS said.

On a month-on-month basis, PPI dipped 0.9 percent in May after a 0.5 percent decline in April, said the NBS.

ouyangshijia@chinadaily.com.cn