China's inflation grew by 2.9% in 2019

China's Consumer Price Index, the main indicator of inflation, increased by 2.9 per cent in 2019, according to data published on Thursday by the National Bureau of Statistics.

This figure was slightly below the government target of around 3 per cent. In 2018, inflation had increased by 2.1 per cent, Efe news reported.

Continuing the trend of recent months, this increase in prices was mainly driven by food, which increased 7 per cent during the year, particularly pork -- a staple of Chinese gastronomy -- which rose 42.5 per cent after African swine fever epidemic broke out in the country.

This also resulted in the increase in the price of other meats with which the Chinese people tried to replace pork, such as beef (12.1 per cent) and lamb (11.9 per cent).

Data for the month of December showed that CPI remained at highs since 2011 increasing 4.5 per cent -- the same as in November -- propelled food prices (12.9 per cent year-on-year).

In December, pork was almost twice as expensive (97 per cent) compared to the same month the previous year.

However, in the last month of the year, the prices of fresh fruits declined of eight per cent, which appears to have eased harvesting problems -- due to extreme weather conditions, according to the government -- which had caused its price to rise 12.3 per cent overall in the year.

NBS also released its data on the producer price index, which fell 0.3 per cent year-on-year in 2019, returning to the deflationary path it experienced for five years until 2017.

Much of the industrial sectors measured by NBS recorded a price reduction during the year, with some notable exceptions such as mining and finishing of ferrous metals.

In December, the fall in PPI moderated and situated at 0.5 per cent, continuing the upward trend that was recorded in November (-1.4 per cent) after the indicator had touched lowest of the year in October (-1.6 per cent).IANS