China's CPI up 2.3 pct, PPI up 4.1 pct in August

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.3 percent year on year in August, compared with 2.1 percent for July, official data showed Monday.

The pickup was driven by a fast increase in non-food prices, which rose 2.5 percent year on year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on its website.

[Photo: VCG]

On a month-on-month basis, the CPI increased 0.7 percent from July, as food prices rose 2.4 percent from July.

China is aiming to keep annual CPI growth at around 3 percent this year, the same as the target for 2017.

The average year-on-year CPI growth for the first eight months stood at 2 percent, unchanged from the first seven months, according to the NBS.

China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, rose 4.1 percent year on year in August.

The growth was down from the 4.6-percent rise in July.

NBS statistician Sheng Guoqing said the carryover effect contributed 3 percentage points to the 4.1-percent year-on-year PPI growth, and new factors that push up prices contributed 1.1 percentage points.

On a monthly basis, PPI edged up 0.4 percent in August, picking up from 0.1 percent in July.

For the first eight months of the year, PPI climbed 4 percent from the previous year.