Prices of fresh vegetables in China had surged by more than 30% last month when compared to the same period last year. The rise in the cost of food in the country comes as the inflation rate in November reached its highest level in almost two years.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released new data on Thursday indicating a rise in the cost of food across the nation. China's consumer price index grew by 2.3% in November, up from a 1.5% increase in October. The increase was the highest recorded since August 2020. The NBS said the CPI increase was still below analysts' expectations for the month.
The increase in vegetable prices comes as floods and extreme weather have destroyed farms in rural areas over the past months. Other food prices increased by 1.6% on average in China last month, compared to the same month the previous year.
Prices of eggs jumped by 20.1% in November compared to the same month last year. Prices of freshwater fish had also jumped by 18%. Pork prices remained relatively stable when compared to the highs of last year because of the swine fever epidemic. Prices of pork, a staple in Chinese diets, had decreased by 32.7% in November from the 12.2% increase in October.
The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization said that its worldwide food price index increased by 27.3% in November, reaching its highest level since June 2011.
Senior NBS statistician, Dong Lijuan, said the increase in food prices is mostly due to the combined factors of rising seasonal demands, increased logistics costs, sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks, and extreme weather.
China's core consumer inflation rate, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, increased by 1.2% in November compared to the same month the previous year, down from 1.3% in October. Non-food costs increased by 2.5% year over year last month, up from 2.4% in October.
The NBS said that the producer pricing index (PPI), which measures the rates producers charge wholesalers for items, climbed 12.9% in November from a year earlier, down from a 26-year high of 13.5% rise in October.
Higher inflation rates in China have fueled stagflation fears amid a domestic economic slowdown and concerns about sustained global inflation. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced on Monday that it would reduce the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for major commercial banks by 0.5 percentage points, releasing $188 billion in long-term liquidity into the interbank system. The move was aimed at helping the Chinese economy cope with rising headwinds.
