Shanghai inflation 5.2% in November

SHANGHAI'S consumer prices continued to soar in November despite a slower rise in food costs, the Shanghai Statistics Bureau said today.

The city's main gauge of inflation was up 5.2 percent last month, the biggest rise since 2003, according to the bureau's Website. It beat the 5.1 percent growth in October and September's 4.5 percent.

"Food costs remain the biggest driver of the city's consumer price rises. However, the rise in food costs has shown a tendency to slow down," said Ma Xiaomin, an analyst with the bureau. "The growth momentum will become stable in the coming months."

In November, food prices rose 14.8 percent, down 1.3 percentage points from the growth in October. A drop in vegetable prices contributed most to the slower pace but pork costs rebounded after a two-month slide because of rising demand in the winter.

Pork costs surged 54.7 percent last month from a year earlier while edible-oil prices also climbed 30.8 percent.

Consumer products and service prices rose 6.5 percent and 1.8 percent respectively.

The city's inflation was better than the national figure, which jumped to an 11-year-high of 6.9 percent in November.

In the first eleven months, Shanghai's combined consumer prices increased 2.9 percent.

The accelerated costs and rising incomes boosted the city's retail sales. Last month, 32.2 billion yuan (US$4.3 billion) was spent in the city's retail sector, rising 14.6 percent year on year.

Shanghai's producer prices, the factory-gate inflation measurement, rose 0.7 percent in November, up 0.4 percentage point from the previous month.

Among other new data released today, import value in Shanghai amounted to US$12.9 billion last month, compared with exports of US$14.3 billion. Both reached a record high to push the growth in trade volume to 26 percent from a year earlier.

The city's industrial output grew 14 percent to 207.1 billion yuan in November while the net income of industrial companies expanded 24.7 percent to 121.8 billion yuan through last month.

Fixed-asset investment jumped 23.7 percent to 45.5 billion yuan in November, fueled by urban infrastructure construction and industrial investment.

"Shanghai has also seen great improvement in the function of capitalization," said Ma.

Investment in the Shanghai Stock Exchange reached 28.5 trillion yuan through November, a five-fold hike from the same period last year. The futures market turnover leapt 76.5 percent to 20.3 trillion yuan.