Consumer Prices for February 2021
In February 2021, the national Consumer Price Index (CPI) dropped by 0.2 percent year on year. Among them, the prices in urban and rural areas dropped by 0.2 and 0.1 percent; the prices of food stuff and non-foodstuff both went down by 0.2 percent; the prices of consumer goods and services declined by 0.3 and 0.1 percent. From January to February, on average, China's consumer prices fell by 0.3 percent over the same period last year.
In February, China's consumer prices rose by 0.6 percent month on month. Among them, the prices in urban and rural areas rose by 0.6 and 0.4 percent; the prices of food stuff and non-foodstuff rose by 1.6 and 0.4 percent; the prices of consumer goods and services rose by 0.7 and 0.4 percent.
I. Year-on-Year Changes of Prices of Different Categories
In February, prices of food, tobacco and liquor went up by 0.3 percent year-on-year, affecting nearly 0.09 percentage point increase in the CPI. Of which, the prices of aquatic products increased by 5.9 percent, affecting the CPI up by 0.11 percentage point in total; that of fresh vegetables rose by 3.3 percent, affecting the CPI up by 0.08 percentage point in total; that of fresh fruits rose by 3.1 percent, affecting the CPI up by 0.06 percentage point in total; that of eggs went up by 3.0 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 7.3 percent, affecting nearly 0.34 percentage point decrease in the CPI (price of pork was down by 14.9 percent, affecting nearly 0.39 percentage point decrease in the CPI).
Prices in the other seven categories were 2 up 5 down year on year. In which, the prices of education, culture and entertainment, health care rose by 0.6 and 0.3 percent; that of transportation and communications, other goods and services, decreased by 1.9 and 0.8 percent, that of clothing, housing and daily goods and services dropped by 0.5, 0.3 and 0.2 percent.
II. Month-on-Month Changes of Prices of Different Categories
In February, food, tobacco and alcohol prices went up by 1.2 percent month-on-month, affecting CPI increase by 0.36 percentage point. the prices of aquatic products increased by 8.7 percent, affecting the CPI up by 0.16 percentage point in total; that of fresh fruits rose by 6.1 percent, affecting the CPI up by 0.12 percentage point in total; that of fresh vegetables rose by 1.8 percent, affecting the CPI up by 0.05 percentage point in total; that of eggs went down by 3.8 percent, affecting the CPI down by about 0.02 percentage point; that of livestock meat went down by 1.0 percent, affecting nearly 0.04 percentage point decrease in the CPI (price of pork was down by 3.1 percent, affecting nearly 0.07 percentage point decrease in the CPI).
Other seven categories of prices rose 4 fell 2 and flat 1 month on month. Among them, the prices of transportation and communication, education, culture and entertainment increased by 1.1 and 0.8 percent; that of housing and daily necessities and services both increased by 0.1 percent; that of health care unchanged; that of clothing, other supplies and services, decreased by 0.5 and 0.3 percent respectively.
Consumer Prices in February
| M/M (%) | Y/Y (%) | Jan-Feb | |
| Y/Y (%) | |||
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| Consumer Prices | 0.6 | -0.2 | -0.3 |
| Of which: Urban | 0.6 | -0.2 | -0.3 |
| Rural | 0.4 | -0.1 | -0.1 |
| Of which: Food | 1.6 | -0.2 | 0.7 |
| Non food | 0.4 | -0.2 | -0.5 |
| Of which: Consumer Goods | 0.7 | -0.3 | -0.2 |
| Services | 0.4 | -0.1 | -0.4 |
| Of which: Excluding Food and Energy | 0.2 | 0.0 | -0.1 |
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By Commodity Categories |
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| I. Food, Tobacco and Liquor | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.9 |
| Grain | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 |
| Cooking Oil | 0.5 | 6.2 | 6.1 |
| Fresh Vegetables | 1.8 | 3.3 | 6.9 |
| Meat | -1.0 | -7.3 | -4.0 |
| Of which: Pork | -3.1 | -14.9 | -9.6 |
| Beef | 2.0 | 3.5 | 3.8 |
| Mutton | 2.2 | 7.5 | 7.1 |
| Aquatic Products | 8.7 | 5.9 | 3.1 |
| Eggs | -3.8 | 3.0 | 2.1 |
| Dairy products | -0.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| Fresh Fruits | 6.1 | 3.1 | 2.2 |
| Tobacco | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Liquor | -0.3 | 1.1 | 1.5 |
| II. Clothing | -0.5 | -0.5 | -0.3 |
| Clothing | -0.5 | -0.4 | -0.3 |
| Shoes | -0.2 | -0.8 | -0.7 |
| III. Residence | 0.1 | -0.3 | -0.3 |
| House Renting | 0.2 | -0.3 | -0.5 |
| Water, Electricity, and Fuel | 0.1 | -0.1 | -0.2 |
| IV. Household Articles and Services | 0.1 | -0.2 | -0.1 |
| Household Appliances | 0.2 | -0.5 | -0.7 |
| Household Services | 1.7 | 3.9 | 2.4 |
| V. Transportation and Communication | 1.1 | -1.9 | -3.3 |
| Transportation Facilities | 0.1 | -2.0 | -2.0 |
| Fuels for Vehicles | 3.3 | -5.2 | -9.4 |
| Vehicle Use and Maintenance | 1.5 | 2.7 | 1.2 |
| Communication Facilities | 0.2 | 5.0 | 4.6 |
| Communication Services | 0.0 | -0.3 | -0.3 |
| Postal Services | 0.7 | 0.4 | -0.3 |
| VI. Education, Culture and Recreation | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Education Services | 0.1 | 1.6 | 1.6 |
| Tourism | 5.0 | -4.3 | -6.5 |
| VII. Health Care | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Traditional Chinese Medicines | 0.1 | 1.6 | 1.6 |
| Western Medicines | 0.0 | -1.8 | -1.8 |
| Health Care Services | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| VIII. Other Articles and Services | -0.3 | -0.8 | -0.9 |
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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.