BEIJING: Soaring pork prices in China are already pushing up headline inflation and have become a political issue, but for now they’re unlikely to prevent the central bank from pursuing easier monetary policy.
Pork prices rose more than 20% in July from a year earlier due to an ongoing pig disease epidemic, and wholesale data indicates that they will soar even more in August data, which was due out yesterday. But that jump isn’t dominating the headline inflation data yet, which is forecast to slow slightly.
