The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Changsha Survey Team announced recently that, Changsha’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) in 2020 was 101.8, up 1.8% from 2019. The growth rate was 0.7 percentage points lower than the national average level; 0.5 percentage points lower than the provincial average level; and, 0.3 percentage points lower than the average level of 36 large and medium-sized cities.

Changsha's CPI growth rate ranked 30th with Yinchuan side by side among 36 large and medium-sized cities in China, and the 6th among the six provincial capitals in central China.

Survey statistics showed that, in terms of the year-on-year CPI growth of each month in 2020, February was the highest, reaching 4.2%, and then it went down all the way; and, November was the lowest, reaching -0.6%. From March to December, except for 3.0% year-on-year growth in March and 2.8% year-on-year growth in July, the year-on-year growth of the other eight months was all lower than 2.0%.

“Food price fluctuations have a major impact on the overall price level. The main factor determining food prices is the prices of agricultural and sideline products. Agricultural and sideline products are affected by such factors as climate and natural disasters. Therefore, their prices fluctuate greatly and have a greater impact on CPI,” said the person in charge of the survey team.

Changsha’s agricultural and sideline products such as pork, fresh vegetables and fruits saw significant price fluctuations in 2020. Since the second half of 2019, under the dual influence of the “pork cycle” and the African Swine Fever, pig inventory was greatly reduced, and pork prices on the rise, with the maximum increase of more than 100%. This led to a sharp rise in the prices of beef, mutton and other livestock meat and their by-products.

On the other hand, with the popularization of the concept of health, people’s consumption habits have been changed from “eat well” to “eat healthily”. This pushed up the prices of vegetables, fruits and other agricultural and sideline products.

Relevant provincial and municipal departments stepped up measures to guarantee supply and stabilize prices, and ensured no big vegetable and fruit price fluctuations. Therefore, the growth rate of Changsha’s vegetable and fruit prices in 2020 was lower than the national and provincial average level.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

 
Translator: Kuang Zhenzhen

 
Chinese source: changsha.gov.cn