China's November Consumer Prices Fall for First Time in 11 Years... 'Pork and Food Prices Decline'

November CPI Month-on-Month -0.5%
Annual CPI Target Likely to Be Achieved

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] China's Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell for the first time in 11 years. This is analyzed to be due to the stabilization of food prices, including pork.

On the 9th, China's National Bureau of Statistics announced that the November CPI fell by 0.5% compared to the previous month. This is the first time since October 2009 that China's monthly CPI has shown a decline. The decline in CPI was driven by falling prices of food items, including pork.

Citizens of Beijing, China wearing masks [Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Since last year, China experienced a rise in pork prices as the number of pigs raised decreased due to African Swine Fever (ASF). This year, as the spread of ASF slowed and pig farms normalized, pork prices stabilized. Last month, pork prices fell by 12.5% compared to the same period last year. Overall food prices also dropped by 2%.

The core inflation index, which excludes highly volatile agricultural products and petroleum prices, showed a 0.5% increase.

In January this year, overlapping factors such as the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused the monthly CPI growth rate to surge to 5.4%. Afterward, it showed a downward trend, eventually leading to a month-over-month price decline.

With the November price decline, China's CPI is expected to maintain the government's target inflation rate of 3.5% set earlier this year. From January to November, China's CPI growth rate was recorded at 2.7%.

Meanwhile, the Producer Price Index (PPI) for November fell by 1.5% compared to the same period last year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.