On the website of the National Bureau of Statistics on May 12, the National Bureau of Statistics released today the data of the national CPI (Consumer Price Index) and PPI (Industrial Producer Price Index) for April 2020. In this regard, Dong Lijuan, senior statistician of the City Department of the National Bureau of Statistics, interpreted it.


First, the CPI continued to decline month-on-month, and the year-on-year increase fell further.

In April, the trend of prevention and control of the new national pneumococcal pneumonia epidemic situation further consolidated and production The order of life is speeding up. From a quarter-on-quarter perspective, CPI fell by 0.9%, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from the previous month. Among them, food prices fell by 3.0%, the rate of decrease narrowed by 0.8 percentage points, affecting the decline of CPI by about 0.70 percentage points, which is the main factor driving the continued decline of CPI. In food, the weather is warming, the supply of fresh vegetables has increased, the price has dropped by 8.0%, and the rate of decrease has narrowed by 4.2 percentage points. Supply is sufficient and prices are both down 2.2%. Non-food prices fell by 0.2%, the rate of decrease narrowed by 0.2 percentage points, affecting a decrease of about 0.17 percentage points in CPI. Among non-food items, the prices of gasoline, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas dropped by 7.5%, 8.2% and 3.7% respectively due to fluctuations in international crude oil prices. As the resumption of production and production accelerated, the demand for travel increased and the price of air tickets rose by 5.6%.

From a year-on-year perspective, CPI rose by 3.3%, a decrease of 1.0 percentage points from the previous month. Among them, food prices rose by 14.8%, the rate of increase fell by 3.5 percentage points, affecting the CPI rose by about 2.98 percentage points. Among foods, pork prices rose by 96.9%, a decrease of 19.5 percentage points; beef, lamb, chicken, and duck prices rose by 8.2% to 20.5%, all of which have dropped; egg prices have changed from a rise of 2.1% last month to a decrease of 3.4% ; Fresh fruit and fresh vegetable prices fell by 10.5% and 3.7%, respectively, and the declines expanded by 4.4 and 3.6 percentage points, respectively. Non-food prices rose by 0.4%, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from the previous month, which affected the increase of CPI by approximately 0.31 percentage points. Among non-food items, the prices of health care, education, culture and entertainment increased by 2.2% and 2.0% respectively, while the prices of transportation and communications, clothing and housing decreased by 4.9%, 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively. The core CPI after deducting food and energy prices rose by 1.1% year-on-year, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous month. According to estimates, in the 3.3% year-on-year increase in April, the tailing effect of price changes last year was about 3.2 percentage points, and the effect of new price increases was about 0.1 percentage points. On average from January to April, CPI rose from the same period last year4.5%.


Second, PPI chain ratio and year-on-year decline increase

In April, domestic industrial prices were affected by factors such as the epidemic situation and the continued decline in international commodity prices Keep going lower. From a quarter-on-quarter perspective, PPI fell by 1.3%, an increase of 0.3 percentage points from the previous month. Among them, the price of means of production fell by 1.8%, an increase of 0.6 percentage points; the price of means of living decreased by 0.1%, the decrease narrowed by 0.1 percentage points. Judging from the 40 major industrial categories surveyed, there were 30 prices that fell, 8 that increased, and 2 that were flat. Affected by the sharp drop in international crude oil prices, the decline in prices of products in petroleum-related industries continued to expand. Among them, the prices of the oil and gas extraction industry fell by 35.7%, an increase of 18.7 percentage points; the prices of petroleum, coal and other fuel processing industries fell by 9.0%, an increase of 1.2 percentage points; the prices of chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing fell by 3.0%, an increase of 1.6 percentage point. The above three industries combined affect PPI decline by about 0.76 percentage points, accounting for nearly 60% of the total PPI decline. The decline in prices of products in industries such as steel and non-ferrous metals has narrowed. Among them, non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry prices fell 2.2%, narrowing 1.3 percentage points; ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry prices fell 1.6%, narrowing 0.3 percentage points. The price of coal mining and washing industry changed from rising to falling, falling by 2.3%. The price of the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry rose from flat to 0.3%.

From a year-on-year perspective, PPI decreased by 3.1%, an increase of 1.6 percentage points from the previous month. Among them, the prices of means of production fell by 4.5%, an increase of 2.1 percentage points; the prices of means of living rose by 0.9%, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points. The price drop in major industries has expanded. Among them, the prices of the oil and gas extraction industry fell by 51.4%, an increase of 29.7 percentage points; the prices of petroleum, coal, and other fuel processing industries fell by 19.8%, an increase of 9.2 percentage points; the prices of the chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing industry decreased by 8.3%, an increase of 3.0% Percentage; ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry prices fell 7.3%, an increase of 3.4 percentage points; non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry prices fell 6.0%, an expansion of 2.5 percentage points; coal mining and washing industry prices fell 5.4%, an increase of 1.8% percentage point. In addition, the price of agricultural and sideline food processing industry rose by 6.2%, the growth rate fell by 0.5 percentage points. According to estimates, in the 3.1% year-on-year decline in April, the tailing effect of price changes last year was about -0.3 percentage points, and the effect of new price increases was about -2.8 percentage points. From January to April, the average PPI fell by 1.2% compared with the same period last year.

(Originally titled” Dong Lijuan, Senior Statistician, Urban Division, National Bureau of Statistics, interpreting CPI and PPI data for April 2020 “)