China's consumer and producer prices strengthened in August, signaling firmer price pressures as higher commodity and input costs fed through the industrial sector.
The consumer price index rose 0.8% year over year in August, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday. The reading matched the 0.8% consensus forecast tracked by Investing.com and picked up from 0.5% in July.
The CPI rose 0.4% month over month, rebounding after three consecutive months of declines and suggesting a firmer near-term price trend.
The recovery, however, remained uneven. Food prices fell 1.4% year over year, while non-food prices rose 1.2%. Consumer goods prices increased 0.8%, matching the rise in services prices.
Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, rose 1% year over year, pointing to somewhat firmer underlying price pressures than the headline CPI suggests.
Producer prices delivered a stronger signal. The PPI rose 3.8% year over year in August, recovering from a three-month low of 3.5% in July and exceeding the 3.6% consensus forecast tracked by Investing.com.
On a month-over-month basis, the PPI rose 0.4%, reversing two consecutive months of declines.
The rebound was led by production inputs, with prices of means of production rising 5% year over year. Mining prices jumped 17.8%, while raw-material prices rose 6.7%.
Higher commodity and industrial input costs remained a key source of pressure. Prices of non-ferrous metal materials and wires surged 19.8% year over year, while fuel and power prices rose 9.8% and chemical raw-material prices increased 9.5%.
Taken together, the data suggest China's price environment is becoming firmer, although the recovery remains uneven.
For the first eight months, consumer prices averaged 0.9% higher than a year earlier, compared with a 2% increase in producer prices.
