【Dow Jones Newswires 】China's consumer prices fall for a third straight month

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[size=1em]China's consumer prices fall for a third straight month                                                   
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25461310-5018001,00.html
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UPDATE: Liu Li  [size=1em]May 11, 2009    Article from:  Dow Jones Newswires  
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[size=1em]Picture: Bloomberg

CHINA'S consumer and producer-price indexes fell further in April, as widely expected, on lower food and commodities prices.
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But deflation isn't likely to be a concern for the economy in the long run.

China'sCPI fell 1.5 per cent in April from a year earlier, marking the thirdstraight month of decline, while the PPI fell 6.6 per cent, the fifthstraight month of steepening declines, data issued by the NationalBureau of Statistics showed today.

April's CPI fall widenedfrom March's 1.2 per cent drop, and was in line with the median 1.5 percent decline forecast by 16 economists surveyed earlier by Dow Jones Newswires.The decline in the PPI widened from March's 6 per cent drop, and waslarger than the survey's median forecast of a 6.5 per cent fall.

TheCPI will likely continue to fall in the coming months, reflecting lastyear's higher base and weak external demand, said Jing Ulrich, Chinaequities chairwoman of JPMorgan.

However, "deflationary concerns appear to be subsiding as the economy shows signs of recovery," she said.

China's major economic indicatorsbegan to show improvement in March as fixed-asset investment andindustrial output growth accelerated significantly, and manufacturingactivity accelerated last month, according to purchasing managers'indexes.

Ms Ulrich said she expects the CPI to resume risingin the second half of the year. Expectations of rising prices will alsoencourage consumer spending, she said.

The government is targeting a CPI rise of 4 per cent this year.

InApril, food prices, a key component of the CPI, dropped 1.3 per centfrom a year earlier. Pork prices fell 28.6 per cent from a yearearlier, marking the sharpest drop in all CPI components, on the swineflu outbreak and a higher base in 2008.

Consumer prices thisyear are coming off a higher base last year, when the CPI rose 8.5 percent in April from the comparable period in 2007.

Last year,China's inflation rate hit 8.7 per cent in February, the highest inmore than a decade, and stayed above 7 per cent in May and June.

Theraw materials, fuel and power component of the PPI dropped 9.6 per centin April from a year earlier. Crude oil prices tumbled 53.6 per cent inthe same period.

Non-food prices in the CPI fell 1.5 per cent, the data showed.

Theconsumer goods component of the PPI, which some economists look at as aforward indicator of consumer prices, was down 1.7 per cent in Aprilfrom a year earlier, the statistics agency said.

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