Food prices rose 21.9% in February! Why are food prices rising? The National Bureau of Statistics explains the reason!

February is a critical period for epidemic prevention and control, and is also the Spring Festival period. But food prices rose 21.9% in February, a critical period. So what exactly happened? Why are food prices rising? The National Bureau of Statistics explains the reason!

1. What exactly happened to the 21.9% increase in food prices in February?

On March 10, according to the official website of the National Bureau of Statistics, in February 2020, the national consumer price index rose by 5.2% year-on-year. Among them, the urban prices rose by 4.8%, and the rural prices rose by 6.3%; food prices rose by 21.9%, and non-food prices rose by 0.9%; consumer goods prices rose by 7.9%, and service prices rose by 0.6%. On average from January to February, the national consumer price index rose by 5.3% compared with the same period last year.

2. Why are food prices rising? The National Bureau of Statistics explains the reason!

As for the main reasons for the sharp rise in food prices, Zhao Maohong, director of the Urban Management Department of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that from the demand perspective, affected by factors such as the "stay-at-home" requirements and the "risk-averse" mentality, some residents have started hoarding purchases, and in some areas there has been a rush to buy easy-to-store foods such as instant noodles, meat products and frozen foods, which has even spread to other foods, contributing to price increases.

III. Year-on-year changes in prices of various commodities and services

In February, the prices of food, tobacco and alcohol rose by 16.0% year-on-year, affecting the CPI (Consumer Price Index) by about 4.84 percentage points. Among food items, the price of animal meat rose by 87.6%, affecting the CPI increase by about 3.85 percentage points, of which the price of pork rose by 135.2%, affecting the CPI increase by about 3.19 percentage points; the price of fresh vegetables rose by 10.9%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.33 percentage points; the price of aquatic products rose by 2.8%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.05 percentage points; the price of eggs rose by 1.0%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.01 percentage points; the price of grain rose by 0.7%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.01 percentage points; the price of fresh fruit fell by 5.6%, affecting the CPI decrease by about 0.11 percentage points.

Among the other seven categories, six prices rose and one fell year-on-year. Among them, prices of other goods and services, medical care, education, culture and entertainment increased by 4.4%, 2.2% and 1.0% respectively; prices of clothing, housing, daily necessities and services increased by 0.5%, 0.3% and 0.1% respectively; prices of transportation and communications decreased by 1.6%.

IV. Month-on-month changes in prices of various commodities and services

In February, the prices of food, tobacco and alcohol rose by 3.0% month-on-month, contributing about 0.99 percentage points to the CPI increase. Among food items, the price of fresh vegetables rose by 9.5%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.28 percentage points; the price of livestock meat rose by 7.1%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.53 percentage points, of which the price of pork rose by 9.3%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.45 percentage points; the price of fresh fruit rose by 4.8%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.08 percentage points; the price of aquatic products rose by 3.0%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.05 percentage points; the price of eggs fell by 5.8%, affecting the CPI decrease by about 0.04 percentage points.

Prices of the other seven major categories rose, remained unchanged and fell by one and five month-on-month. Among them, medical care prices rose by 0.1%; education, culture and entertainment prices remained unchanged; transportation and communications, clothing, other goods and services prices fell by 1.5%, 0.3% and 0.2% respectively; housing, daily necessities and services prices all fell by 0.1%.