Inflation likely to rebound, analysts say

China's consumer price index (CPI), a major gauge of inflation, is expected to rebound as prices of staple food rise amid the coldest winter in 28 years, analysts said Sunday.

"Factors such as cold weather and greater demand for food during the Spring Festival in mid-February may push the CPI reading in the first quarter of 2013 back above the 2 percent threshold," Chris Leung, senior China economist at DBS Bank Hong Kong, wrote in a report sent to the Global Times Sunday.

Prices of major vegetables and pork rose in November and December 2012, according to the Ministry of Commerce's price monitoring system.

China is also suffering the coldest winter in 28 years, according to the China Meteorological Administration. Along with the rising cost of food transportation as a result of the cold weather, increased demand for meat during holiday occasions is also pushing up prices.

China's CPI rose 1.7 percent year-on-year in October 2012, a two-year low, before rising slightly to 2 percent in November.

The official statistics for December's CPI will not be available until Friday, but the average forecast is 2.3 percent, according to a recent survey by the Xinhua News Agency.

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