The price of living in Yunnan continues to rise. According to recently released government statistics the province's consumer price index (CPI) rose 6.1 percent year-on-year, driven by fast-rising food prices.
Food prices in Yunnan were 13.7 percent higher in September 2011 than in September 2010, accounting for 70 percent of CPI growth.
In addition to putting increased pressure on price-sensitive lower-income Yunnan residents, this trend is also cutting into profit margins at restaurants, creating opportunities for unethical food production practices, as exhibited in the gutter oil scandal that recently came to light in Kunming.
Food oil prices jumped 19.2 percent year-on-year in September. The price of eggs was up 11.2 percent over the previous September, while grains were up 12 percent. Meat and poultry exhibited the most significant year-on-year price increase, skyrocketing by 35.3 percent, led by pork, which was up 56.8 percent.
In month-by-month terms, inflation slowed down a bit in September, rising only 0.4 percent, compared with 0.6 percent in July and August and 0.7 percent in June.
Yunnan's CPI, which measures price changes across a basket of consumer items, has been climbing steadily since January 2011, when prices jumped 1 percent over the previous month.
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Comments
I refuse to believe those numbers are correct. The real CPI is higher and if I should take a guess based on my own observations I'd say the number is closer to 8-9 percent. By the way, did anyone else notice if the price of meat is a lot higher outside of Kunming? Where I have been lately travelling in western Yunnan the prices are roughly 20-25 percent higher.
Danmairen, I totally agree with you. I also feel the real CPI is higher than this number. The price of meat outside of Kunming is always higher than in kunming, especially in some remote areas. I think this is because there's strong competetion in big cities, so the butchers have to lower the price, relatively.
I agree, inflation is a lot high than 6.something. Not just meat has gone up.
I have noticed a lot of "inflation by deflation." By this I mean the price stays the same or slightly increases but the package content shrinks. At times, the package states the same weight but the formerly tight packaging is now loose.
Getting less for your money is inflation.
If china would just let the RMB float against the US dollar this wouldn't be a problem
That's what happens when you take a lot of farmland out of production. The food has to come from somewhere else and probably costs more.
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