2018.10.1603:35:00UTC+00China's Inflation At 7-Month High

China's inflation rose to a 7-month high in September on higher energy prices, data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed Tuesday.

Consumer prices advanced 2.5 percent year-on-year in September, in line with expectations but faster than the 2.3 percent rise in August. This was the highest increase since last February.

Nonetheless, inflation remains well below the government's full year-target of around 3 percent.

Food prices rose by 3.6 percent versus 1.7 percent a month ago. Meanwhile, non-food price inflation eased to 2.2 percent from 2.5 percent.

At the same time, monthly consumer price inflation held steady at 0.7 percent.

The upshot is that the recent rise in CPI is due to temporary disruptions to food supply, with few signs in the inflation data of a broader increase in price pressures that would worry the People's Bank, Julian Evans-Pritchard, an economist at Capital Economics, said.

"Indeed, central bank officials have generally shrugged off inflation concerns recently and so we doubt these will prevent a further loosening of monetary policy in the coming months in a bid to shore up economic growth," the economist added.

Another report from NBS showed that producer price inflation eased to 3.6 percent in September from 4.1 percent in August. Economists had forecast a 3.5 percent growth for September.

On a monthly basis, producer price inflation rose to 0.6 percent from 0.4 percent in August.