China’s consumer prices rose by a more-than-expected 0.5% in July from a year ago, boosted by a surge in pork prices, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
Prices of pork, a widely consumed food staple in China, surged by 20.4% year-on-year in July.
Pork prices play a significant role in China’s consumer price index, but can be prone to large swings due to disease or other factors affecting production.
Core CPI, which strips out food and energy prices, rose by 0.4% year-on-year in July. That’s down from 0.6% in June.
The latest CPI report also revealed signs of the ongoing real estate slump.
Rental prices fell by 0.3% year-on-year in July, steeper than the 0.1% drop for the year so far, the statistics bureau data showed.
The producer price index for July fell by 0.8% from a year ago. That was slightly less than the 0.9% forecast decline, and unchanged from June’s 0.8% drop.