GUANGZHOU: Dramatically increased prices of food and housing were a major contributor to the rocketing consumer price index (CPI) in the southern province of Guangdong in the first three quarters, a source with the Provincial Survey Office under the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

The CPI, the main gauge of inflation, rose 6.7 percent, year-on-year, in the province in the last nine months. It was an increase of 3.7 percentage points over last year's rise.

Food prices are up 15.1 percent since last year.

However, the year-on-year increase from the first three quarters of last year was only 9.1 percent, according to the Provincial Survey Office.

Specifically, the price of pork has seen a year-on-year increase of 33.8 percent since January.

After the food prices, the housing price has been seen as another key contributor to the CPI increase.

Housing prices saw a year-on-year increase of 7.3 percent in the first three quarters, or 4 percentage points higher than the period last year.

"Mainly driven by the increased prices of food and housing, which accounted for 95.5 percent of the CPI, the inflation indicator in Guangdong has reached a record high in recent years," said Luo Fengjin, a publicity official with the Provincial Survey Office.

However, the CPI growth has seen a slowing trend during the period, Luo noted.

For example, it recorded a year-on-year increase of 5.2 percent in the third quarter, as compared with 7.6 percent in the first.

Since July, the CPI in the province has seen an average year-on-year increase of more than 4 percent. It reached a record high of 8.7 percent in February.

In another development, the producer price index (PPI) in the province saw a year-on-year increase of 4.1 percent in the first three quarters, or 2.9 percentage points higher than the corresponding period of last year, according to the survey office.

The purchasing price for raw materials, fuel and power was up 9.4 percent, year-on-year, in the past nine months, or 6.6 percentage points higher than the previous year.

"Different from the CPI, the PPI has witnessed an accelerating trend during the time," Luo said.

It was up from a year-on-year increase of 3.4 percent in the first quarter to 4.9 percent in the third.

"The increase was due to the rocketing price of raw materials and energy early this year," said Feng Shengping, a researcher with the Guangdong Provincial Study and Research Center. "But with a global slowdown in progress, the PPI is expected to drop later this year."

(HK Edition 10/23/2008 page2)