By Keith Bradsher
BEIJING — Pork is up. Vegetables are up. Gasoline is up. Even the official numbers, usually tame, are up.
Prices are rising in China — and that could complicate Beijing’s efforts to prop up a slowing economy and navigate President Trump’s trade war.
Chinese officials said Monday that an index of consumer prices rose in August for the third consecutive month. The increases are not particularly sharp, and Chinese economists point to a number of temporary factors pushing up prices, like floods that have damaged crops and a swine flu epidemic that led farmers to cull pigs.
Still, investors and the Chinese public alike are casting a wary eye on prices.
Angus Tong, a 37-year-old Beijing resident, said his landlord wanted to nearly double the rent for his family’s $1,200-a-month apartment. Rent already absorbs a third of his income and his wife’s, while the family’s monthly food bills have risen.
To save money, “we try to cook every meal at home,” he said, adding, “I think most middle-income people feel the pressure from rising costs.”
Higher prices could cause problems for Xi Jinping, the country’s leader. They would mean China’s leaders would have to be careful as they sought ways to bolster slowing growth, lest their efforts drive up prices still further. The trade war with the United States could also lead to higher prices for Chinese consumers and companies with tariffs raising the cost of imported goods.
“During the coffee breaks and the conversations, the topic of inflation is coming up,” said Tai Hui, the chief Asia markets strategist for J. P. Morgan Funds. “We’re starting to hear a lot more from investors. It’s just a question of the severity.”
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