Chinese consumer inflation rose to a six-month high in April, with the cost of pork jumping as the country battles with a widespread outbreak of African swine fever, while producer prices rose at a faster pace than forecast.
The official consumer price index rose 2.5 per cent year-on-year April, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, its highest reading since October and accelerating from the 2.3 per cent increase in the previous month. That increase was in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters.
Pork prices, which are heavily weighted in the gauge’s basket of goods, rose 14.4 per cent. The price of pork is being closely watched as African swine fever ravages Chinese farms, with forecasts that deaths and culling of the animals as a result of the disease will leave 130m fewer pigs in China by the end of the year, limiting the supply of the country’s preferred protein.