Consumer Prices for August 2020

National Bureau of Statistics of China 2020-09-10 09:30 Print| Large| Medium| Small

In August 2020, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) went up by 2.4 percent year-on-year, with an increase of 2.1 percent in urban and 3.2 percent in rural. The food prices and the non-food prices went up by 11.2 and 0.1 percent. The prices of consumer goods went up by 3.9 percent, and that of services fell 0.1 percent. From January to August, on average, the overall consumer prices were up by 3.5 percent from the same period of the previous year.

In August, national consumer prices rose by 0.4 percent month-on-month. Among them, the prices in urban and rural both went up by 0.4 percent; the prices of foodstuff and non-foodstuff increased by 1.4 and 0.1 percent; that of consumer goods increased by 0.6 percent and that of services unchanged.

I. Year-on-Year Changes of Prices of Different Categories

In August, prices of food, tobacco and liquor went up by 8.8 percent year-on-year, affecting nearly 2.71 percentage points increase in the CPI. Of which,Livestock meat price up by 42.0 percent, affecting nearly 2.28 percentage points increase in the CPI (price of pork was up by 52.6 percent, affecting nearly 1.74 percentage points increase in the CPI); the price of fresh vegetable rose by 11.7 percent, affecting the CPI up by 0.29 percentage point in total; that of aquatic products rose by 3.4 percent, affecting nearly 0.06 percentage point increase in the CPI; that of fresh fruit dropped by 19.8 percent, affecting the CPI down by 0.38 percentage point in total; that of eggs went down by 11.0 percent, affecting the CPI down by about 0.07 percentage point.

Prices in the other seven categories were 2 up 4 down and 1 unchanged year on year. In which, the prices of other goods and services, health care rose by 6.1 and1.5 percent; that of education, culture and entertainment unchanged; that of transportation and communications and housing decreased by 3.9 and 0.7 percent; and that of clothing and daily goods and services fell 0.5 and 0.1 percent.

II. Month-on-Month Changes of Prices of Different Categories

In August, food, tobacco and alcohol prices went up by 1.0 percent month-on-month, affecting CPI increase by 0.32 percentage point. In which, egg prices rose by 9.4 percent, affecting CPI up by 0.05 percentage point; fresh vegetable prices went up by 6.4 percent, affecting CPI up by 0.16 percentage point; livestock meat prices rose by 1.4 percent, affecting nearly 0.10 percentage point increase in the CPI (price of pork was up by 1.2 percent, affecting nearly 0.06 percentage point increase in the CPI); the prices of aquatic products and fresh fruits both decreased by 0.4 percent, affecting CPI down by 0.02 percentage point totally.

Other seven categories of prices rose 4 flat 1 and fell 2 month on month. Among them, the prices of other supplies and services, transportation and communication increased by 2.4 and 0.3 percent respectively, that of housing and health care increased by 0.1 percent; that of daily necessities and services remained unchanged; that of education, culture, entertainment and clothing decreased by 0.3 and 0.2 percent respectively.

Consumer Prices in August

Items	August		Average on Jan-Aug
Items	M/M (%)	Y/Y (%)	Y/Y (%)

Consumer Prices	0.4	2.4	3.5
Of which: Urban	0.4	2.1	3.2
Rural	0.4	3.2	4.4
Of which: Food	1.4	11.2	15.2
Non food	0.1	0.1	0.5
Of which: Consumer Goods	0.6	3.9	5.2
Services	0.0	-0.1	0.7
Of which: Excluding Food and Energy	0.1	0.5	1.0
Of which: Excluding Fresh Vegetables and Fresh Fruits	0.3	2.6	3.9
By Commodity Categories
I. Food, Tobacco and Liquor	1.0	8.8	11.5
Grain	0.0	1.5	1.1
Cooking Oil	0.7	6.4	5.7
Fresh Vegetables	6.4	11.7	4.9
Meat	1.4	42.0	65.1
Of which: Pork	1.2	52.6	93.4
Beef	1.3	14.4	19.2
Mutton	0.7	9.7	11.0
Aquatic Products	-0.4	3.4	3.5
Eggs	9.4	-11.0	-6.3
Dairy products	0.3	1.2	0.9
Fresh Fruits	-0.4	-19.8	-16.0
Tobacco	0.1	0.8	0.8
Liquor	0.2	1.6	2.5
II. Clothing	-0.2	-0.5	-0.2
Clothing	-0.2	-0.3	-0.1
Clothing Processing Service	0.1	2.0	2.3
Shoes	-0.2	-1.2	-0.8
III. Residence	0.1	-0.7	-0.3
House Renting	0.1	-1.2	-0.3
Water, Electricity, and Fuel	0.0	-0.9	-0.6
IV. Household Articles and Services	0.0	-0.1	0.1
Household Appliances	-0.1	-2.1	-1.9
Household Services	0.1	2.5	2.8
V. Transportation and Communication	0.3	-3.9	-3.4
Transportation Facilities	-0.2	-2.8	-2.1
Fuels for Vehicles	0.8	-13.8	-12.8
Vehicle Use and Maintenance	0.0	1.4	1.5
Communication Facilities	0.3	-0.8	-2.6
Communication Services	0.0	-0.2	-0.5
Postal Services	-0.1	-0.4	-0.6
VI. Education, Culture and Recreation	-0.3	0.0	1.5
Education Services	0.1	2.2	2.3
Tourism	-1.5	-6.0	2.0
VII. Health Care	0.1	1.5	2.0
Traditional Chinese Medicines	0.1	2.2	2.7
Western Medicines	0.0	-0.3	1.1
Health Care Services	0.1	2.1	2.4
VIII. Other Articles and Services	2.4	6.1	5.1

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 262 basic dishvisions 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

The prices collection units are selected and determined by sample survey methods, and the original data of consumer prices are collected by specific person in fixed place at fixed time. Data are collected from 88,000 prices collection units in 500 cities and counties of the 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), which cover shopping malls, supermarkets, open fairs, service outlets and Internet E-commerce suppliers.

4. Data Description

Due to "rounding-off", sometimes the aggregate data is the same as the high or low value of the classified data.