China's consumer price index (CPI), the main inflation indicator, rose 8.7 percent in February over the same time last year, the highest monthly increase in nearly 12 years, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Tuesday.
The last monthly record was 8.9 percent set in May 1996. The index rose by an annual rate of 14.11 percent from 1992 to 1996.
The figure was much higher than market expectations. The Bank of China, the country's second largest lender predicted a rise of 8.3 percent in February.
The figure was mainly pushed up by soaring food prices and the severe winter weather that wrought havoc in south China from January to February, said Yao Jingyuan, chief economist of the bureau.
The relatively low consumer price index of 2.7 percent in February 2007 also led index to the new high, he said.
Food prices surged 23.3 percent in February, with pork prices up 63.4 percent, and vegetable prices rising 46 percent, contributing to about 80 percent of the CPI increase.
Non-food prices edged up only 1.6 percent from a year earlier.
The February index was 2.6 percent higher than last month.
Source:Xinhua
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