(Yicai Global) Jan. 12 -- China’s consumer inflation inched up in December from an eight-month low in November, despite a slowdown in pork prices and slack domestic demand as Covid-19 spread.

The consumer price index rose 1.8 percent last month from a year earlier, mainly because of the low base, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics today. The CPI rose 1.6 percent in November.

Food prices soared 4.8 percent in December from a year ago, up from 3.7 percent in the previous month. Pork prices rose 22.2 percent, slowing from a 34.4 percent gain in November.

The cost of pork fell more than expected, with the average wholesale price dropping 13.5 percent, mainly because of weaker consumer demand, Citic Securities said. Meanwhile, the prices of 28 key monitored vegetables rose 8.8 percent in the period, in line with a seasonal pattern.

The swift adjustment of China’s Covid-19 prevention and control measures in early December and the subsequent surge in infections also impacted the core CPI. Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy, rose 0.7 percent in December from a year earlier, after a 0.6 percent increase in November.

The increase in January’s CPI will be significant, likely returning above 2 percent, according to Wu Chaoming, vice president of the Chasing Institute.

Inflation should remain moderate and controllable in 2023, Pang Ming, chief economist at Jones Lang LaSalle China, told Yicai Global. The probability of sustained and rapid inflation is low, he added.

Last year, the annual CPI rose 2 percent from 2021, the NBS data showed.

There is no need to overstress the need to subdue inflation in monetary policy when it has not exceeded target in the context of the economy gradually returning to a relatively normal supply and demand balance and reasonable potential growth rate, Pang noted.

Monetary policy is still mainly oriented to consolidating the foundation of economic recovery and stabilizing the upward momentum, Pang said.

Editor: Futura Costaglione