Nearly 50% say prices too high

NEARLY half of China's urban households said that existing consumer prices are too high and unacceptable, according to a latest quarterly survey released yesterday by the People's Bank of China.

About 47.6 percent of the 20,000 households in 50 cities across the country are concerned deeply about soaring consumer prices which are unacceptable - the highest level since the survey began in 1999 and 0.5 percentage point higher than the first nine months of the year, according to the survey, which covered October to December period, posted on the central bank's Website.

The latest survey showed a shift because in the past three years, respondents used to say that consumer prices, although high, were "acceptable".

"The change mirrors people's sentiment of the increasing inflation pressure, especially after the recent price hikes of meat, eggs and vegetables," said the survey. "The unrestrained acceleration in prices has imposed no small influence over people's lives."

In November, China's consumer prices climbed 6.9 percent from a year earlier, approaching the record seven percent posted in December 1996.

The rise followed a 6.5-percent jump in October and pushed the combined figure for the first 11 months to 4.6 percent, departing further from the central bank's earlier target of three percent.

Food prices, which make up about one-third of the Consumer Price Index, rose 18.2 percent in November from a year ago. Pork costs soared 56 percent while meat and poultry prices galloped 38.8 percent. Vegetable prices also widened 28.6 percent.

Meanwhile, about 64.8 percent of the households expect consumer prices to continue to rise next year, a 3.4-percentage-point hike from the third quarter.