Holiday lifts Feb consumer prices

Third straight year of industrial deflation as PPI sinks 4.8 percent

Inflation at the consumer level rebounded more than expected last month, lifted by a surge in food prices during Spring Festival, while industrial deflation accelerated, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.

The Consumer Price Index rose 1.4 percent year-on-year in February, compared with a five-year low of 0.8 percent in January, as the long holiday (from Feb 18 to 25) boosted demand.