Inflation hits three-year peak in China

The pace of inflation in China surged in June compared with May, the National Bureau of Statistics said Saturday. Xinhua reported the annual inflation rate hit 6.4 percent in June, a sharp climb from the annual rate of 5.5 percent in May. The 6.4 percent rate is the highest in three years and exceeds the government's target rate of 4 percent. The People's Bank of China has made a series of policy moves this year, including raising interest rates on three occasions, to slow price gains. Bank Gov. Zhou Xiachuan said Friday controlling inflation has been the bank's primary focus for 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday. But consumer prices, especially for food, have continued to rise. From June 2010 to June 2011, food prices have risen 14.4 percent. In May the 12-month rate of food inflation was 11.7 percent. Zhang Liqun, an economist with the State Council Development Research Center, a government think tank, said food supplies with the exception of pork were rising, which would put downward pressure on prices. Pork supplies hit a seasonal low in June and prices of pork from a year ago responded, jumping 57.1 percent on the year. From May, pork prices rose 11.4 percent, while other food prices rose 0.9 percent. Some fruit and vegetable prices declined in June as supplies increased, the government said.