China's consumer prices jump 6.5 pct in July

HONG KONG, Aug. 9 (Yonhap) -- China's consumer prices surged 6.5 percent on-year to a 36-month high in July due to soaring food costs, government data showed Tuesday.
Last month's growth in the consumer price index (CPI) was also up from a 6.4 percent gain in June, China's National Bureau of Statistics said.
China's inflation gauge grew more than 5 percent for the fifth straight month and exceeded 6 percent for the second month in a row since July 2008.
July's consumer inflation rate was higher than the average market estimate range of 6.2-6.3 percent.
Food prices led the overall CPI growth, jumping 14.8 percent from a year earlier and 14.4 percent from the previous month. They rose at a double-digit pace for the seventh consecutive month.
Non-food prices rose 2.9 percent, down from 3.0 percent in June. They still stayed at a high level, reflecting pass-alongs of higher raw material costs and property prices.
The agency also said the country's producer price index rose 7.6 percent on-year in July, indicating that consumer prices in the coming months will continue to face upward pressure.
The Chinese government is expected to continue to maintain its tightening measures, putting its top policy priority on reining in runaway inflation.
In a move to counter inflation, the Chinese government has started to roll back the stimulus package it introduced during the global financial crisis, while the central bank raised the benchmark interest rate for the third time this year in July.