China's January consumer inflation expected to pick up

BEIJING - China's consumer inflation in January was expected to increase due to food price rises, economists said Tuesday, a week before the publication of official data.

The consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, is likely to increase by 2.4 percent in January from a year ago, 0.3 percentage points higher than December, said Lu Zhengwei, chief economist with the Industrial Bank.

Food prices are expected to rise by 2.5 percent month on month in January, driven by rising grain prices, according to China Merchants Securities' analyst Xie Yaxuan.

Partly due to the Spring Festival, which fell on Jan. 28 this year, there is likely to be large increases in tourism services prices, which could also push up inflation, according to Lu.

The CPI increased 2.1 percent in December year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. For the whole of 2016, the CPI rose 2 percent, well below the government's 3 percent target.

The country's consumer price growth stood at 1.4 percent in 2015, and 2 percent in 2014.