China's Oct inflation climbs to 3.8%, highest since 2012

Beijing : China's consumer price index, the main indicator of inflation, grew 3.8 per cent year-on-year in October, its highest growth rate since January 2012, according to official data released.

The National Bureau of Statistics data revealed that the producer price index - tracking wholesale inflation - continued to decline, registering a drop of 1.6 per cent, compared to the 1.2 per cent fall recorded in September, reports Efe news.

As in the last few months, the CPI growth was mainly driven by food products, which grew 15.5 per cent, higher than the 11.2 pe rcent figure from September.

Prices of non-food products grew 0.9 per cent, one decimal point lower than the September growth.

The price of pork, among the products that enjoy the highest demand in China, grew 101.3 per cent year-on-year, after production was hit due to an outbreak of African Swine Fever in the country that decimated the pig population.

Vegetables prices dropped 10.2 per cent year-on-year.

Urban and rural CPI registered a year-on-year growth of 3.5 per cent and 4.6 per cent respectively.

In the first 10 months of the year, average consumer prices grew 2.6 per cent compared to last year, according to the NBS.

The inflation figures released on Friday are much higher than the targets fixed by the government, which in March planned to maintain CPI growth to around 3 per cent.