China’s consumer prices grow 3.4 percent in April

China’s consumer prices grew 3.4 percent in April from a year earlier, government data showed yesterday, an indication that inflationary pressure is moderating in the world’s second-largest economy.

The growth rate of the country’s consumer price index was up from a 3.6 percent on-year gain in March, according to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. The April growth rate marks the third month in a row that consumer prices have expanded less than 4 percent.

Food prices, the largest contributor to the index growth, rose 7 percent in April from a year earlier, up from an increase of 7.5 percent reported for March.

Nonfood prices rose 1.7 percent on-year last month, down from 1.8 percent in March, while housing costs rose 1.8 percent on-year, slowing from a 2 percent gain in the previous month.

Meanwhile, China’s producer price index (PPI), a major measure of inflation at the wholesale level, fell 0.7 percent on-year in April, following the 0.3 percent decrease tallied a month earlier, the data showed.

Yonhap