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China's CPI fall in May for 4th month

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-11 10:35

BEIJING - Chinese consumer prices fell in May for a fourth month as food and energy costs declined from last year's high levels, the government reported Wednesday.

The consumer price index for May was 1.4 percent below the year-earlier level, driven by a 22.2 percent drop in the cost of fresh vegetables and a 15.5 percent drop for meat, the National Bureau of Statistics reported.

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A prolonged period of falling prices could cause economic problems, but the recent declines were expected and are due in part to the fact that this year's prices are being compared with a period of high inflation in 2008.

The CPI fell 1.5 percent in April from a year earlier, 1.2 percent in March and 1.6 percent in February.

Also in May, producer prices plunged by 7.2 percent from a year earlier, driven by a 50.6 percent drop in the cost of oil and double-digit declines in the cost of iron ore and other raw materials, the statistics bureau reported.