China's consumer price index up 1% in July

A citizen shops at a supermarket in Zunhua City, north China's Hebei Province, June 9, 2021. (Photo by Liu Mancang/Xinhua)

China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, grew by 1 percent year-on-year last month, down from 1.1 percent in June, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

The CPI reading edged down as food prices dropped amid falling pork prices, which offset the growth in nonfood prices driven by rising prices of industrial consumer goods and services, the NBS said.

The growth in core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices and is deemed a better gauge of the demand-supply relationship in the economy, came in at 1.3 percent in July, up from 0.9 percent in the previous month.

Dong Lijuan, a senior NBS statistician, said the situation for consumer prices has remained "generally stable" in July with supply secured, amid broader efforts to fight floods and resurgences in COVID-19 cases in some areas.

Meanwhile, China's producer price index, which gauges factory-gate prices, rose by 9 percent year-on-year last month, up from 8.8 percent in June and the same as May's 9 percent, the highest level in the year.

PPI growth has accelerated due to surging prices of crude oil, coal and related products, the bureau said, with the mining industries of ferrous metals, oil and coal each registering a year-on-year rise of more than 40 percent.