China’s pork prices have been rising slowly over the years

BEIJING – China’s consumer price index rose slightly in September on rising food prices, despite a sharp slowdown in pork prices.

The Consumer Price Index rose 1.7% last month from a year ago, China’s National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That figure is slightly lower than the 1.8% increase expected by analysts in the Reuters poll, up from 2.4% in August.

Total food prices rose 7.9% in September from a year earlier, while fresh vegetable prices rose 17.2%.

Pork prices have risen 25.5%, but have been slower than most 100% increases over the past 12 months. In August, pork prices rose 52.6% year-on-year. According to the Bureau of Statistics, September to September print growth has slowed.

African swine flu has devastated China’s swine herds, leading to a major shortage of meat, crucial to a country of 1.4 billion people.

In the first three quarters of this year, China’s pork imports more than doubled from a year ago, the National Customs Agency said on Tuesday. Beef imports increased by 38.8% during that period. At the same time, China imports American agricultural products Increased 44.4% from a year ago.

The Manufacturers’ Price Index fell 2.1% a year earlier than the Reuters poll predicted a 1.8% decline.

– Yen Ni Lee of CNBC contributed to this story.