China's consumer price index (CPI) rose at a pace of 1.4 percent year-on-year in July, moderating slightly from the 1.5 percent pace recorded in June, official data showed on Wednesday.
The moderation in CPI inflation in July reflected easing food price inflation pressures, which still have a significant weight in the overall Chinese CPI basket, Rajiv Biswas, Asia Pacific Chief Economist for IHS Markit, said in an e-mail sent to the Global Times on Wednesday.
Within that, food prices fell 1.1 percent in July, while non-food prices rose 2.0 percent, both on year-on-year bases.
Meanwhile, the country's producer price index (PPI) inflation rate remained stable in July, rising at a pace of 5.5 percent, the same rate as in June.
Despite some increases in world prices for oil and base metals, helped by a slight depreciation of the US dollar against the Chinese yuan and the time lag between new orders placed for commodities and delivery times to Chinese factories, producer price inflation pressures remained stable, Biswas noted.
However, recent rises in prices for imported commodities such as oil, iron ore and base metals during the first half of the third quarter in 2017 are expected to result in an uptick in Chinese producer prices, the analyst forecasts.
