Inside China Today

Bureau of Statistics: Soaring prices of commodities in China reach a 10-year high

The CCP National Bureau of Statistics issued a report on September 2 that prices of commodities in China had reached a new high in a decade.
The report contains an analysis of several characteristics of the past two years prices: firstly, the rise mainly concentrated on two broad categories of food and accommodation; secondly, the remaining types of commodity prices have seen gradually increasing; thirdly, prices of consumables is higher in the rural areas than in cities and prices of goods inland is higher than in coastal areas.

The report mentions that the pressure still exists in the next phase of price increases because drops in the prices of agricultural products is of more difficult. Rationalizing the reform on prices of resource products may cause pressure to the overall price increase. In addition, the pressure of the international inflation is still great. As early as the end of March, an official of the CCP National Bureau of Statistics said China would experience inflation pressure in the next five years to come.

There has been existing some outstanding contradictions and problems in China’s economy, mainly due to the existing risk derived from overheated economic growth, greater pressure on escalating prices, intermingled with inflation risk; structural contradictions have been quite glaring, investment and consumption, internal and external demands; economic development mode is still extensive with more consumption of resources to sustain the economic growth, paying the high price for resources and the environment; some low-income groups are still leading a relatively difficult life; institutional mechanisms are not sound enough.

The above news is brought to you by Chris Thomas for Inside China Today on SOH Radio Network.