China's consumer prices rise 2.5% in June

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.5 percent year on year in June, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Saturday.

On a monthly basis, June's CPI reversed the 0.2-percent decline in May to remain flat due to effective COVID-19 control and a sufficient supply of consumer goods, noted Dong Lijuan, a senior statistician with the NBS.

Food prices went down 1.6 percent month on month, expanding from the 1.3-percent decline logged in May, which lowered the monthly consumer inflation by about 0.3 percentage points, according to the data.

Specifically, the price of pork, a staple meat in China, increased by 2.9 percent in June over the previous month. Dong attributed the growth to some farmers' activities such as hoarding and reluctance to sell, as well as consumer demand increase amid waning epidemic.

Non-food prices rose 2.5 percent from a year earlier, compared to the 2.1-percent rise in May, lifting the yearly consumer inflation by about 2.01 percentage points.

The prices of gasoline and diesel continued the upward trend with year-on-year growth of 33.4 percent and 36.3 percent, respectively, while airfare surged by 28.1 percent from a year ago.

Saturday's data also showed that China's producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went up 6.1 percent year on year in June.