Climbing pork prices push November CPI up 0.96 percent

Rising pork prices push November CPI up. Illustrative image (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Hanoi (VNA) – Climbing prices of pork and processed food were behind the 0.96 percent increase in Consumer Price Index (CPI) of November compared to the previous month.

The 0.9 percent rise was the highest for November over the past nine years.

The spread of African swine fever (ASF) caused a strong drop in pork supply, resulting in higher prices of pork and related food products.

As of November 15, more than 5.8 million pigs weighing 335,700 tonnes in total had been culled nationwide due to ASF. Besides, the total volume of live pigs sold for meat in the first nine months of this year came to 2.5 million tonnes, down 9 percent on a yearly basis. As a result, pork prices in November surged 18.51 percent compared to October and drove up the CPI.

Besides, gas prices were adjusted up 3,500 VND per 12-litre tank, up 0.99 percent compared to October due to rising world prices, which went up from 427.5 USD per tonne to 437.5 USD per tonne.

Reports of the General Statistics Office (GSO) said in comparison with October, nine out of 11 groups of goods and services in the price basket saw their prices increase. Food and catering services witnessed the highest rise of 2.74 percent, and the lowest rise of 0.03 percent was seen in the group of cultural, entertainment and tourism services. Two groups of goods and services posted price decreases, with a 0.73 reduction in transport and 0.09 percent in post and telecoms.

According to Do Thi Ngoc , head of the GSO’s Statistics Department, the November CPI was up 3.78 percent from December 2018 and  3.52 percent from the same month last year. The average CPI of the first 11 months of 2019 rose 2.57 percent from the same period in 2018, which is the lowest increase for the period over the past three years.

Illustrative image. (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Gold prices and exchange rate go down

The USD/VND exchange rate went down 0.13 percent in November. The State Bank of Vietnam has kept an abundant foreign reserve, meeting businesses’ demand for foreign currencies, which resulted in a stable exchange rate. The average exchange rate for USD on the unofficial market was kept around 23,227 VND per USD.

“On the world market, the US dollar has weakened slightly due to the rising tension between the US and China following reports that President Donald Trump may sign a decree backing demonstrators in Hong Kong. Besides, the instability worsened when President Trump declared that he will raise tax if the first phase of a trade deal with China is not reached,” Ngoc said.

On the domestic market,  the gold prices also fluctuated after the world’s, going down 0.3 percent and fluctuating around the level of 41 million VND per tael.

Core inflation in November, which excludes food, fresh foodstuff, fuel and goods and services subject to State price control (health care and education), went up 0.3 percent from the previous month and 2.18 percent from the same period last year. As a result, the core inflation for the 11-month period increased 1.94 percent.

“For the January-November period, the general CPI showed a higher increase than that of core inflation, which showed that CPI growth was mainly caused by higher prices of food and foodstuff, fuel and the adjustment up of health care and educational services,” according to Ngoc.

She noted that the year-on-year rise in core inflation in the first 11 months of this year had a narrow band of between 1.82 percent and 2.18 percent. The average core inflation in the period was at 1.94 percent, reflecting the stable management of the monetary policy, Ngoc said./.