China's annual consumer price inflation jumped to 7.1 per cent in January to reach its highest level in more than 11 years.
The rate, up from 6.5 per cent in December, was in line with market forecasts and was the highest since September 1996. Food prices, which make up one-third of the consumer basket, rose 18.2 per cent in January from a year earlier, the same rate as in November.
Non-food inflation rose up to 1.5 per cent from 1.4 per cent. The National Bureau of Statistics, which issued the figures today, had not provided a breakdown of December's Consumer Price Index.
The Producer Price Index, issued yesterday, was up 6.1 per cent in the 12 months to January, the highest in more than three years.
Xinhua news agency said the statistics office attributed the jump in the consumer price index to the timing of the Lunar New Year holidays this year and to fierce winter weather.