(Yicai Global) June 16 -- China's consumer prices will remain within a reasonable range this year and will not exceed the annual goal of no more than 3 percent growth, a spokesperson for the National Development and Reform Commission said today in the face of spiraling inflation and soaring commodity prices worldwide.

China has sufficient supplies of grains, oil, meat, eggs, milk, fruits and vegetables and as inter-regional logistics improve after a spate of Covid-19 outbreaks, there is a solid foundation for the stabilizing of consumer prices, Meng Wei said. Prices at both ends of the supply chain are becoming more coordinated, she added.

China's consumer price index, a key gauge of inflation, ticked up 2.1 percent in May from the same period last year, the same rate as in April, and well within the 3 percent cap, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

In fact, consumer inflation in China is much lower than in major Western economies and the country continues to serves as a "stabilizer" of global prices.

The CPI in the US and the UK surged 8.6 percent and 9 percent in May year on year, hitting a 40-year high. In the Euro area, consumer inflation jumped 8.1 percent, a new record. And in many emerging economies, consumer prices soared over 10 percent and in some places even more than 50 percent.

Meanwhile, the producer price index, which measures industrial profitability, slowed for the seventh straight month last month to 6.4 percent, despite the upheaval in the global energy and food markets due to geopolitical tensions.

China's self-sufficiency in food and coal coupled with its policy of stabilizing supply and prices, should slow the growth of the PPI further, Meng said.

Editor: Kim Taylor