BEIJING- China’s factory gate prices rose at the fastest rate in three and a half years in April, official data showed, as the world’s second-largest economy continued to gather momentum following record-setting growth in the first quarter.
The producer price index (PPI), a gauge of industrial profitability, rose 6.8 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said, ahead of a 6.5 percent rise tipped by a Reuters poll of analysts and a 4.4 percent rise in March. The consumer price index (CPI), however, rose a modest 0.9 percent.
Investors globally are increasingly worried that pandemic-driven stimulus measures could spark a rapid rise in inflation and force central banks to raise interest rates and take other tightening measures, potentially holding back economic recovery.
“Price surges have spread to mid-stream products, and will continue to affect mid-stream and downstream merchandise, driving an increase in costs for the whole society,” said Hu Yanhong, an analyst at Yingda Securities.
“It could become an obstacle to the economic advances.”
Chinese authorities have repeatedly said they will avoid sudden policy shifts that could derail the recovery, but are slowly normalizing policy and clamping down on property speculation in particular.
The sharp jump in producer prices included an 85.8 percent surge in the oil and natural gas extraction sector from a year ago, while the melting and processing of ferrous metals rose 30 percent, said Dong Lijuan, senior NBS statistician in a statement accompanying the data release.
Still, PPI rose 0.9 percent in April from a month ago, easing from a 1.6 percent gain the previous month.
China’s export growth beat market expectations in April while imports for the month hit a decade high, official data showed on Friday, underscoring robust economic activity for the world’s second-largest economy.
The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by a record 18.3 percent in annual terms in the first quarter as the country recovers from the devastating impact of COVID-19. Many economists expect China’s GDP growth to exceed 8 percent in 2021, although some warn that continuing global supply chain disruptions and higher comparison bases will sap some momentum in coming quarters.
The 0.9 percent CPI increase in April from a year earlier was up on a 0.4 percent rise in March, driven mostly by gains in non-food prices. However, it missed analysts’ expectations for a 1.0 percent rise.
Food inflation remained weak. Prices dropped by 0.7 percent from a year earlier, unchanged from the previous month, weighed by falling pork prices.
Non-food inflation accelerated to 1.3 percent year-on-year in April from 0.7 percent increase in the previous month, as airfares and retail oil prices surged.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose 0.7 percent in April, up from 0.3 percent in March.
