Consumer Prices for March 2021
In March 2021, the national Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.4 percent year on year. Among them, the prices in urban and rural areas rose by 0.5 and 0.4 percent; the prices of food stuff fell by 0.7 percent, that of nonfood stuff rose by 0.7 percent; the prices of consumer goods and services rose by 0.6 and 0.2 percent. In the first quarter, China's consumer prices were flat compared with the same period last year.
In March, China's consumer prices fell by 0.5 percent month on month. Among them, the prices in urban and rural areas dropped by 0.5 and 0.6 percent; that of food stuff fell by 3.6 percent, while that of non-food stuff rose by 0.2 percent; and that of consumer goods and service fell by 0.8 and 0.1 percent.
I. Year-on-Year Changes of Prices of Different Categories
In March, prices of food, tobacco and liquor went up by 0.1 percent year-on-year, affecting nearly 0.03 percentage point increase in the CPI. Among the foodstuff, the prices of aquatic products increased by 8.1 percent, affecting the CPI up by 0.14 percentage point in total; that of fresh vegetables rose by 4.0 percent, affecting the CPI up by 0.08 percentage point in total; that of eggs went up by 3.4 percent, affecting the CPI up by about 0.02 percentage point; that of grain went up by 1.4 percent, affecting nearly 0.02 percentage point increase in the CPI; that of livestock meat went down by 9.1 percent, affecting nearly 0.40 percentage point decrease in the CPI (price of pork was down by 18.4 percent, affecting nearly 0.45 percentage point decrease in the CPI).
Prices in the other seven categories were 5 up 1 down and 1 flat year on year. In which, the prices of transportation and communications, education, culture and entertainment, health care rose by 2.7, 0.4 and 0.2 percent; that of housing and clothing rose by 0.2 and 0.1 percent; that of consumer goods and services was flat; and that of other goods and services decreased by 1.5 percent.
II. Month-on-Month Changes of Prices of Different Categories
In March, food, tobacco and alcohol prices went down by 2.4 percent month-on-month, affecting CPI decrease by 0.71 percentage point. Among the foodstuff, the prices of fresh vegetables fell by 14.5 percent, affecting the CPI down by 0.37 percentage point in total; that of livestock meat went down by 6.5 percent, affecting nearly 0.28 percentage point decrease in the CPI (price of pork was down by 10.9 percent, affecting nearly 0.24 percentage point decrease in the CPI); that of eggs went down by 3.8 percent, affecting the CPI down by about 0.02 percentage point; and that of aquatic products decreased by 1.4 percent, affecting the CPI down by 0.03 percentage point in total.
Other seven categories of prices rose 3 fell 3 and flat 1 month on month. Among them, the prices of transportation and communication, clothing, housing increased by 1.3, 0.4 and 0.2 percent; that of health care was flat; that of other supplies and services, education, culture and entertainment, consumer goods and services decreased by 0.8, 0.4 and 0.1 percent respectively.
Consumer Prices in March
| M/M (%) | Y/Y (%) | Jan-Mar | |
| Y/Y (%) | |||
| | | | |
| Consumer Prices | -0.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Of which: Urban | -0.5 | 0.5 | -0.1 |
| Rural | -0.6 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Of which: Food | -3.6 | -0.7 | 0.2 |
| Non food | 0.2 | 0.7 | -0.1 |
| Of which: Consumer Goods | -0.8 | 0.6 | 0.1 |
| Services | -0.1 | 0.2 | -0.2 |
| Of which: Excluding Food and Energy | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| By Commodity Categories | | | |
| I. Food, Tobacco and Liquor | -2.4 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| Grain | 0.0 | 1.4 | 1.5 |
| Cooking Oil | 0.6 | 6.9 | 6.4 |
| Fresh Vegetables | -14.5 | 0.2 | 4.8 |
| Meat | -6.5 | -9.1 | -5.7 |
| Of which: Pork | -10.9 | -18.4 | -12.5 |
| Beef | -1.7 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
| Mutton | -0.4 | 8.2 | 7.5 |
| Aquatic Products | -1.4 | 8.1 | 4.7 |
| Eggs | -3.8 | 3.4 | 2.5 |
| Dairy products | 0.6 | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| Fresh Fruits | -0.2 | 4.0 | 2.8 |
| Tobacco | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Liquor | 1.0 | 1.8 | 1.6 |
| II. Clothing | 0.4 | 0.1 | -0.2 |
| Clothing | 0.4 | 0.2 | -0.1 |
| Shoes | 0.3 | -0.3 | -0.6 |
| III. Residence | 0.2 | 0.2 | -0.2 |
| House Renting | 0.3 | 0.0 | -0.3 |
| Water, Electricity, and Fuel | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| IV. Household Articles and Services | -0.1 | 0.0 | -0.1 |
| Household Appliances | 0.3 | -0.2 | -0.5 |
| Household Services | -2.1 | 2.4 | 2.4 |
| V. Transportation and Communication | 1.3 | 2.7 | -1.4 |
| Transportation Facilities | 0.0 | -1.9 | -1.9 |
| Fuels for Vehicles | 6.4 | 11.5 | -3.0 |
| Vehicle Use and Maintenance | -1.3 | 1.8 | 1.4 |
| Communication Facilities | 0.1 | 6.0 | 5.1 |
| Communication Services | 0.0 | -0.3 | -0.3 |
| Postal Services | -0.8 | -0.6 | -0.4 |
| VI. Education, Culture and Recreation | -0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Education Services | 0.2 | 1.9 | 1.7 |
| Tourism | -4.2 | -8.2 | -7.1 |
| VII. Health Care | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Traditional Chinese Medicines | 0.0 | 1.5 | 1.6 |
| Western Medicines | -0.1 | -1.9 | -1.8 |
| Health Care Services | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.8 |
| VIII. Other Articles and Services | -0.8 | -1.5 | -1.1 |
| | | | |
Annotations:
1. Explanatory Notes
Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an index measuring changes over time in the price level of consumer goods and services purchased by residents, which comprehensively reflects the changes of price level.
2. Statistical Coverage
Consumer Price Index (CPI) covers the prices of goods and services of 8 categories and 268 basic divisions which cover the living consumption of urban and rural residents, including food, tobacco and liquor; clothing; residence; household articles and services; transportation and communication; education, culture and recreation; health care; other articles and services.
3. Survey Methods
According to the principle of "fixed person, fixed point and fixed time", people are directly sent to the survey sites or collect the original price from the Internet. The data comes from about 500 cities and counties in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and cities) and nearly 100000 price survey points, including shopping malls (stores), supermarkets, farmers' markets, service outlets and Internet e-commerce.
4. Data Description
Due to "rounding-off", sometimes the aggregate data is the same as the high or low value of the classified data.
5. Base Period Rotation
According to the regulations of the statistical system, China's CPI has a base period rotation every five years. In January 2021, CPI with 2020 as the base period will be compiled and released. Compared with the last round of the base period, the survey classification catalogue, representative specifications and survey outlets in the new base period have been adjusted, and the classification weight has also changed to reflect the latest changes in the consumption structure of residents. It is estimated that the average impact of the base period rotation on the CPI year-on-year index is about 0.03 percentage point.