October 18, 2014

 

China consumer price index for September 2014: prices of poultry increased 1.2%

 

 

According to the recently released China consumer price index (CPI) for September 2014 by the Nation Bureau of Statistics, the national CPI has increased 1.6% year-on-year in September. Among them, the CPI for cities and rural areas increased 1.7% and 1.4% respectively; food prices increased 2.3% while prices of non-food items increased 1.3%; consumer goods prices increased 1.4% and service prices increased 2.3%. The average CPI for January-September 2014 compared to the same period last year has increased 2.1%.
 

CPI has increased 0.5% month-on-month. Among them, the CPI for cities and rural areas increased 0.5% and 0.4% respectively. Food prices increased 0.8%, prices of non-food items increased 0.3% while consumer goods prices increased 0.5% and service prices increased 0.4%.

1.  Year-on-year comparison for goods and services prices

 

Food prices increased 2.3% year-on-year in September, constituting to an estimated 0.78 percentage point (pp) increase in CPI. Among them, fresh fruits prices also see a 16.7% increase year-on-year, constituting to an estimated 0.33pp increase in CPI; eggs prices increased 12.9%, constituting to an estimated 0.12pp increase in CPI; grain prices increased 3.4%, constituting to an estimated 0.10pp increase in CPI; seafood prices increased 3.2%, constituting to an estimated 0.08pp increase in CPI; poultry prices increased 1.2%, constituting to an estimated 0.09pp increase in CPI (pork prices has a 2.9% decline, constituting to an estimated 0.09pp increase in CPI); fresh vegetable prices dropped 9.4%, constituting to an estimated 0.31pp decrease in CPI.

 

Prices of tobacco and alcohol dropped 0.6% year-on-year. Among them, alcohol prices dropped 1.7% while prices of tobacco increased 0.2%.

 

Prices of clothing increased 2.4%. Among them, clothes manufracturing services increased 5.2% and clothes prices increased 2.5%.

 

Prices of household applicances and maintenance services increased 1.1%. Among them, prices of house maintenance services increased 7.5% and durable consumer goods increased 0.2%.

 

Prices of healthcare and personal items increased 1.2%. Among them, prices of Chinese herbals and processed medicines increased 2.3%, healthcare services increased 1.1% and western medicine increased 0.8%.

 

Prices of transport and communication dropped 0.3%. Among them, prices of fuel and spare parts for vehicles, communication devices, transportation, and vehicles usage and maintenance fees dropped 4.0%, 3.8%, 0.8% and 3.5% respectively.

 

Prices of entertainment, educational and cultural products and services increased 1.9%. Among them, travel prices increased 3.2%, while the prices of educational services increased 2.9%.

 

Prices of housing also increased 1.6%. Among them, prices of rental, prices of materials for construction and renovation, and prices of water, electricity and fuels increased 2.6%, 0.8% and 0.6% respectively.

 

Out of CPI's 1.6% year-on-year increase in September, the carryover effect for last year price hikes is estimated 0.3pp, while the new increased price factor is 1.3pp.

 

2.  Month-on-month comparison for goods and services prices

 

Food prices increased 0.8% month-on-month in September. Among them, prices of fresh vegetables increased 3.9%, constituting to an estimated 0.11pp increase in CPI; prices of fresh fruits increased 1.5%, constituting to an estimated 0.03pp increase in CPI; pork prices dropped 2.3%, constituting to an estimated 0.07pp decrease in CPI; seafood prices dropped 0.7%, constituting to an estimated 0.02pp decrease in CPI.

 

Prices of non-food items increased 0.3% month-on-month in September. Among them, the prices of clothing, housing and entertainment, educational and cultural products and services, increased 1.0%, 0.1% and 0.9% respectively. Prices of household appliances and maintenance services and healthcare and personal items remained constant, while the prices for transport and communications and tobacco and alcohol dropped 0.3% and 0.1% respectively.

        

September 2014 CPI breakdown
	September		Jan-Sep
	Month-on-month comparison（%）	Year-on-year comparison（%）	Price change（%）
CPI	0.5	1.6	2.1
Among them: Cities	0.5	1.7	2.2
Rural areas	0.4	1.4	1.9
Among them: Food items	0.8	2.3	3.3
Non-food items	0.3	1.3	1.6
Among them: Consumers products	0.5	1.4	1.9
Services	0.4	2.3	2.7
Among them: Excludes food and energy	0.3	1.5	1.7
Among them: Excludes　fresh vegetables and fruits	0.3	1.7	1.9
By category
1.  Food items	0.8	2.3	3.3
Grains	0.4	3.4	3.1
Oils	-0.1	-4.1	-5.0
Poultry and its processed items	1.4	1.2	0.3
Among them: Pork	2.3	-2.9	-4.5
Beef	0.5	4.6	7.3
Mutton	-0.2	2.5	5.6
Eggs	1.9	12.9	8.6
Seafood	-0.7	3.2	4.9
Fresh　vegetables	3.9	-9.4	-1.3
Fresh fruits	1.5	16.7	19.6
Milk and other dairy products	-0.2	7.4	10.1
2. Tobaccoand alcohol	-0.1	-0.6	-0.6
Tobacco	0	0.2	0.2
Alcohol	-0.3	-1.7	-1.8
3. Clothing	1.0	2.4	2.4
Clothes	0.9	2.5	2.5
Shoes	1.4	2.1	1.9
Clothes manufracturing services	0.4	5.2	5.0
4. Household appliances and maintenance services	0	1.1	1.2
Durable consumer goods	-0.1	0.2	0.3
House maintenance services	0.4	7.5	7.3
5. Healthcare and personal items	0	1.2	1.2
Chinese herbals and processed medicines	0.2	2.3	3.3
Western medicines	0.2	0.8	0.6
Healthcare services	0	1.1	1.1
6. Transport and communications	-0.3	-0.3	0.1
Transportation	-0.3	-0.8	-0.8
Fuel and spare parts for vehicles	-2.5	-4.0	1.1
Vehicles usage and maintenance fees	0.6	3.5	2.8
Communication devices	-0.4	-3.8	-4.6
Communication services	-0.1	-0.1	-0.1
7. Entertainment, educational and cultural products and      services	0.9	1.9	2.2
Educational services	2.0	2.9	2.4
Travel	-0.3	3.2	7.8
8. Housing	0.1	1.6	2.3
Materials for construction and renovation	0	0.8	1.2
Rental	0.3	2.6	3.5
Water, Electricity and Fuels	0.1	0.6	1.1

 

　

Notes:

 

　　1.  Definition of indicator

Consumer Price Index (CPI）is used to measure the average change over time in the prices paid by consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services.

 

　　2.  The range (Statistics)

CPI consists of both urban and rural residents' living consumption of food, tobacco and alcohol, clothing, household appliances and maintenance services, healthcare and personal items, transport and communications, entertainment, educational and cultural products and services, housing, these eight main categories and 262 basic classification and prices of goods and services.

 

   　3.  Research method

Using sampling methods based on the principle of "selected target groups, location and time", surveyors are sent directly to locations for the acquisition of original prices. The data is collected from 31 provinces (districts and main cities), 500 cities and more than 63,000 pricing survey points, including grocery stores, department stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, specialty markets, stores, shopping centers, and farmers' markets and service consumption units.