Consumer inflation nears six-year high as pork prices soar

China’s consumer inflation hit its highest level in nearly six years as its consumer price index (CPI) edged up 0.2% to a 3% year-on-year rise in September, according to data released on Tuesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), reported Caixin.

The reading is the highest since November 2013 and exceeded the average forecast of 2.8% growth by a Caixin poll of economists. The CPI measures the prices of a select basket of consumer goods and services.

Faster-rising food prices, especially pork, were the major drivers of CPI growth. The average pork price rose 69.3% year-on-year in September, up from 46.7% the previous month. That contributed 1.65 percentage points to CPI growth, NBS data shows.