(Yicai) Aug. 10 -- Consumer and producer prices in China expanded last month at a slower pace than the month before, mainly because the impact of rising international oil prices is easing.

The consumer price index inched up 0.5 percent in July from a year earlier, down from a 1 percent year-on-year increase the month before, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics yesterday. On a monthly basis, the CPI fell 0.1 percent, narrowing from a 0.3 percent drop in June.

Excluding energy and food, the core CPI rose 0.9 percent in July from a year earlier. Gasoline prices increased 1 percent in the period, down from a 17 percent year-on-year jump in June, and their driving effect on the CPI shrank 0.5 percentage point, said Dong Lijuan, chief statistician at the NBS’s urban division.

Food prices continued to decline 1.5 percent in July from a year ago, but at a slightly slower pace than in June. Pork prices fell 13 percent in the period, down from 16 percent, she noted.

Service prices rose 0.7 percent last month from the same period last year, down from 0.8 percent the month before. Among them, medical service, housekeeping service, catering service, and education service prices increased 4.3 percent, 1.3 percent, 1 percent, and 0.6 percent, respectively, remaining generally stable, according to Dong.

The moderate growth in the CPI mainly comes from service prices, indicating the seasonal changes in consumer demand, said Pang Ming, senior researcher at the National Institution for Finance and Development. As tourism enters its summer peak season, transportation and accommodation prices have risen, offsetting the downward pressure on prices of some durable consumer goods, he added.

The producer price index climbed 3.5 percent in July from the same period last year, down from a 4.1 percent year-on-year increase the previous month, NBS data also showed. On a monthly basis, the PPI fell 0.7 percent, widening from 0.4 percent in June.

The month-on-month decline in the PPI is due to input factors causing prices in related industries to drop. Prices of oil extraction, refined petroleum product manufacturing, and organic chemical raw material manufacturing decreased 12 percent, 8.4 percent, and 4.2 percent, respectively.

Moreover, extremely high temperatures, heavy rains, and typhoons in July slowed down the construction progress of infrastructure projects and led to a decline in prices in related industries, Dong explained.

In the next stage, the PPI stability will still have good support, NBS spokesperson Wang Guanhua said at a press conference last month. The accelerated integration of artificial intelligence, the increase in computing power demand, and the gradual optimization of market competition are expected to drive up prices in related industries, she added.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione