China’s consumer inflation rose to a six-month high in August as the cost of pork fell, despite other official data showing a rise in wholesale pork prices amid concerns a series of African Swine Fever outbreaks could impact supply.
The official consumer price index rose 2.3 per cent year on year last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, notching the fastest pace in half a year and edging out a median forecast of 2.2 per cent growth from economists polled by Reuters.
The bureau noted that pork prices, which are heavily weighted in the gauge’s basket of goods, were down 4.9 per cent year on year, pulling down the headline figure by 0.1 percentage points even as broader food inflation boosted it by almost 0.6 percentage points.