http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23687138-20142,00.html Rowan Callick | May 13, 2008 CHINA'S inflation rose to 8.5 per cent in April, driven by a 22.1 per cent leap in food prices. This effectively ends the Government's prospect of confining inflation to its 4.8 per cent target for 2008. The consumer price index increase, year on year, reached 8.7 per cent on February and fell to 8.3 per cent in March, but was back up again last month. The producer price index also climbed in April, to 8.1 per cent, a three and a half year high. Meanwhile, China's trade surplus increased to $17.78 billion in April, from $14.29 billion in March. But the trend is towards higher imports (up 27.9 per cent in the first four months of the year) and lower exports (up 21.5 per cent). The trade surplus in the first four months was $61.85 billion, compared with $67.5 billion a year earlier. Pan Xiangdong, chief economist at China Securities in Beijing, told Reuters: "Exports slowed, but not by much. So the trade sector is not as sluggish as the complaints from lots of exporters would suggest" -- citing rising domestic costs and softening global demand. The biggest component of the soaring food price increase in April was meat and poultry, up 47.9 per cent. Grain prices were up 7.4 per cent, seafood products up 16.1 per cent, fresh vegetables 13.6 per cent, and fresh fruit 12.1 per cent. But non-food prices only rose by 1.8 per cent in April, as in March. China's share markets did not appear especially perturbed by the return to an upward trend in inflation. The benchmark index in Shanghai rose 0.37 per cent yesterday and that in Shenzhen 0.66 per cent. Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the People's Bank of China, said at the weekend that tackling inflation would remain the country's top economic priority. He complained that efforts by the US and British to put a floor under their slowdown caused by the sub-prime crisis were making it harder for China to restrict its soaring inflation, now at a 12-year high. He said: "Central banks are trying to inject liquidity into the markets to stop the economy from going into another recession and void panic. This problem is making matters worse -- this excessive liquidity." -- http://blog.pixnet.net/mattel http://www.peaceforum.org.tw --

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