China's consumer price inflation increased in August, driven by higher technology and energy prices, and producer price inflation exceeded economists' forecasts, official data revealed on Wednesday.
Consumer prices advanced 0.8% in August from last year, faster than the 0.5% rise in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said. The annual growth came in line with expectations.
Nonetheless, inflation is well below the government's full-year target of around 2%.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices climbed 0.4% in August, in contrast to the 0.1% fall in July. Prices were expected to rise 0.3%.
Core inflation that excludes food and energy prices rose marginally to 1% from 0.9% in the prior month.
Food prices fell 1.4% from last year, largely due to the fall in pork prices. Energy prices contributed 0.28 percentage points to the annual increase in inflation.
Another report showed that producer price inflation accelerated to 3.8% from 3.5% in July. Economists had forecast prices to grow 3.6%.
Although higher input prices look likely to support reflation moving forward, inflation is expected to be around 0.9% for the full year, ING economist Lynn Song said.
Inflation is below the official target, but it is unlikely to play a major role in monetary policy decision-making this year, Song added.