On October 14, the Beijing Investigation Team of the National Bureau of Statistics released data revealing that in September, consumer demand in Beijing dropped after the summer season, leading to a shift from an increase to a decrease in the local consumer price index (CPI) compared to the previous month. Notably, the price of fresh vegetables saw a year-on-year rise of 39.4%, indicating an expanding increase.
The CPI in Beijing rose by only 0.2% year-on-year in September, a decline of 0.3 percentage points from the previous month. Prices for pork and fresh fruits increased by 15.3% and 8.4%, respectively, while the prices of eggs and mutton decreased between 7.2% and 10.5%. In contrast, the cost of airplane tickets, hotel accommodations, and travel agency services fell by 6.4%, 5.6%, and 3.6%, respectively. Additionally, various services such as clothing, housekeeping, education, and elder care had price increases ranging from 1.3% to 4.3%, while gasoline prices dropped by 7.8% year-on-year.
Month-over-month, CPI in Beijing transitioned from a 0.5% increase in the previous month to a 0.1% decrease in September. Fresh vegetable prices rose by 5.5% compared to the previous month, although this was a decrease of 29.8 percentage points from August due to earlier rainfall and changes in supply locations. Fresh fruits, pork, and egg prices increased month-on-month by 5.7%, 1.7%, and 1.1%, respectively. Conversely, the decreased travel demand resulted in falling prices for hotel stays, airline tickets, and travel agency fees, which dropped by 12.3%, 5.5%, and 5.1%, respectively. Influenced by fluctuations in international commodity prices, gasoline and diesel costs fell by 2.9% and 3.1%, while gold jewelry prices saw a month-on-month increase of 2.9%.
Additionally, the data indicated that in September, producer prices for industrial products saw a year-on-year and month-on-month decline of 2.1% and 0.6%, respectively, while the purchase prices of industrial producers dropped by 1.9% year-on-year and 1.6% month-on-month.
