Jun. 11, 2012 (China Knowledge) – China's consumer price index (CPI), the major gauge of inflation, increased 3% YoY or decreased 0.3% MoM in May this year, according to latest statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The YoY growth rate was 0.4 percentage points lower than the 3.4% rise in April 2012 and hit 23 months' lowest level last month.

The CPI in urban areas increased 3% YoY last month, while the CPI in rural areas rose 2.9% YoY, according to the statistics.
 
Last month, the NBS said food prices went up 6.4% YoY, driven by a 31.2% surge in fresh vegetables which contributed 0.78 percentage points to the overall CPI growth. There was a 5.1% growth in the prices of meat, poultry and processed products and 11.3% increase in the prices of sea food. The price of fresh fruit and fresh eggs dropped 7.1% and 9.8% YoY in May, respectively. Non-food prices rose 1.4% YoY last month.

The prices of cigarettes, alcohol and related products climbed 3.3% YoY, mainly driven by a 7.3% increase in alcohol prices, while the prices of household appliances and maintenance services edged up 1.9% from a year earlier.

The price of personal and health care products increased 2.1% than a year earlier in May, while the price of clothing rose 3.1%.

There was an increase of 1.6% in the prices of housing costs that were driven by 2.2% rise in housing rentals, 1.3% increase in the prices of water, electricity and fuels and 1.1% increase in the prices of building and decorative materials. However, the price of transportation and telecommunications decrease 0.1%.