The ups and downs of commodity prices

Editor's note:  The prices of many goods and services in China have fluctuated during the past few months. Let's see what they are and what is causing the ups and downs in costs.

The ups and downs of commodity prices

The ups and downs of commodity prices

The ups and downs of commodity prices
 

Pork producers worried about price hike

Chinese pig farmers said they were concerned about the recent surge in pork prices, citing fears that the current boom might prompt vast profit-driven expansion and lead to price plunge. [Full story]

More:
Pork prices dropped for first time in 3 months  
Increasing pork prices breed hopes, worries
Fiscal support to stabilize pig supplies

 

The ups and downs of commodity prices

Netizens bunch together to help banana growers

Though they knew it was a buy-one-get-one-free deal, Chen Guo and her colleague, who each paid 6.8 yuan ($1) for a bunch of bananas on the group-buying platform of taobao.com, still felt surprised when they were given a whole box of bananas. [Full story]

More:
Banana-eating campaign around China
Officials go bananas over rotting stock

 

The ups and downs of commodity prices

Chinese traditional medicine prices soar

This price surge of traditional Chinese medicine will increase the production costs of TCM firms and hamper the development of the industry, said Fan Shuting, the director of the China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine. [Full story]

More:
TCM ingredient vendors ordered to reduce stockpiles

  The ups and downs of commodity prices

Garlic price tumbles in China

Garlic prices have tumbled more than 35 percent over the past three months, which is also a 12-percent drop year-on-year, according to the data released by Xinhua News Agency on June 18. [Full story]

More:
A good time to buy garlic

The ups and downs of commodity prices

Egg price on the rise

Egg price is on the rising trend since the beginning of July. It came to 10.2 yuan per kg on July 24, up 23.2 percent year-on-year, according to Xinhua News Agency.

 

 

The ups and downs of commodity prices

Textile industry rues cotton price volatility

The price of cotton has been a rollercoaster ride during the past year: It came close to 30,000 yuan ($4,629) a ton by the end of 2010 from 17,000 yuan a ton in May. However, after reaching a record 35,000 yuan a ton in February, the price has since slumped around 30 percent to approximately 22,000 yuan a ton this month. [Full story]

More: 
China to build cotton reserve system to boost output 
Cotton demand may ease
     

The ups and downs of commodity prices

Gold price exceeds $1,600 per ounce

The price of gold jumped above $1,600 an ounce for the first time Monday night as debt worries in the US and Europe continued to trouble investors. [Full story]

More:
China's gold output up 3.7% from Jan to May

 

The ups and downs of commodity prices

Silver loses its lining

The price of silver had been increasing for the past year and touched a record this month.But last week, it fell drastically. This sudden change in the metal's price and investors' fortunes occurred because silver cannot compare with gold as a secure investment. [Full story]

More:
Silver price plummet hurts Guizhou

 

The ups and downs of commodity prices
 

Jade too expensive following price surge

Hotan jade has risen about 10,000 times in price from 30 years ago, according to Guo Lanxiang, president of the Gems & Jewelry Trade Association of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

"The price of one kilo of Hotan jade in 1993 was 1,500 yuan ($232). Now a kilogram of Hotan jade may cost from 1 million to 10 million yuan. [Full story]

More:
$108m green jade pieces displayed

 

The ups and downs of commodity prices

Airlines slash prices to beat trains

Airlines linking Beijing, Shanghai and cities between the two cities have been searching for ways to prevent passengers from flowing onto the new high-speed line that will start operation on June 30.

Those measures include more discounts, as well as free train rides and shuttle buses to and from airports. [Full story]

More:
Airlines to fend off fast-train threat
Airlines quick to drop discounts

The ups and downs of commodity prices 

The ups and downs of commodity prices

The ups and downs of commodity prices

 China's CPI hits three-year high of 6.4% in June

China's inflation escalated to the highest level in three years amid lingering pressure, with the consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, jumping 6.4 percent year-on-year in June, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Saturday.

China's Producer Price Index (PPI), a major measure of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 7.1 percent year-on- year, according to NBS.
[
Full story]

Manufacturing production slows

China's manufacturing production fell to a 28-month low in June, indicating a sizeable slowdown in economic growth against a recent background of soaring inflation.

However, the inflationary pressure is likely to ease in the second half of the year, with both manufacturing input and output prices showing a slower rate of increase, according to a statement on the website of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP). [Full story]

The ups and downs of commodity prices


Price stability a top priority: Wen

Premier Wen Jiabao has repeated the government's line that maintaining the stability of consumer prices remains a top priority of the country's macro-economic regulation.

"The country will stick to its macro-regulation stance and well grasp the direction, strength and rhythm of its macro-economic policies," Wen said during a visit to Shaanxi province over the weekend. [Full story]

The ups and downs of commodity prices

Taking inflation by the horns

Curbing soaring prices has become a priority for China. In May the consumer price index (CPI), a measure of inflation, reached 5.5 percent year-on-year, a 34-month high, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Inflation is the result of the government's loose monetary policy since late 2009 which allowed extra money to flow into the economy, says Liu Lingling, professor of economics at Tsinghua University. The broad currency supply, or M2, in China reached 76.34 trillion yuan ($11.78 trillion) in May. [Full story]

The truth behind China's rise in inflation

Inflation has emerged as one of the key social and economic challenges confronting the Chinese government this year. Some even fear that China is now exporting inflation to the rest of the world after many years of holding down global prices for manufacturing goods through low-cost labor.

These two issues were explored in detail as part of this year's International Monetary Fund's review of the Chinese economy, called 2011 Article IV Report on China. The review concludes that China has the tools to successfully combat inflation and that there is no convincing sign that its domestic price pressures are systematically spilling over to international markets. [Full story]

 

The ups and downs of commodity prices

The ups and downs of commodity prices

The ups and downs of commodity prices

The ups and downs of commodity prices

The ups and downs of commodity prices