There's One Meaty Reason Driving China's Inflation
Cuts of pork hang from hooks at a market in Shanghai.
Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
Mounting inflationary pressure in China may get a boost from rising prices for one of the country’s main dietary staples: pork.
Food prices are one of the biggest factors in consumer inflation, and one of the main components is pork. The meat accounts for almost 3 percent of the consumer price index, according to an estimate from Citic Securities Co. The government’s statistics bureau doesn’t disclose weights for components in the CPI basket.
Pork prices have collapsed on cheaper corn, the main feed for hogs, and greater production. Prices soared 33.6 percent year on year in May 2016, the most in more than four years, but have been falling this year. However, losses have been narrowing over the past four months, with fresh data showing a 10.1 percent drop in October.