Anhui released the latest CPI "rise and fall list" Pork rose the fastest.

On August 31st, the Anhui investigation team of the National Bureau of Statistics released the province's CPI rise and fall list in the first half of the year. Overall, CPI rose 1.8%, higher than the same period last year. Among them, food, tobacco and alcohol, medical and health care, entertainment, education, cultural supplies and services occupied the top three.

Pork rises fastest and fresh vegetables don't show weakness.

Analysts from the statistics department pointed out that food, tobacco and alcohol have once again become the leader of price increases this year. Food, tobacco and alcohol rose 4.9% in the first half of the year, with pork prices rising the fastest, followed by fresh vegetables. "to the relief of housewives, the prices of grain, eggs, fresh melons and fruits in food have all declined compared with the same period last year."

The price of health care is the second highest. Under the influence of medical price reform, health care prices rose sharply in the second quarter of last year, ranking first among the eight categories for the whole year. Affected by the warping tail this year, prices continued to rise in the first half of the year.

The price increase of service items has slowed down. Service items rose 1.6% in the first half of the year, the lowest increase in the same period in three years, and the impact has declined, but the price increase is still up to 90%. Of the 65 service items surveyed, only 7 fell. Among them, medical services and education increased the most significantly, up 4.6% and 2.6% respectively, followed by domestic service and personal services such as beauty and hairdressing.

The prices of industrial consumer goods continued to decline. Among them, the prices of housing decoration materials, furniture and household appliances have dropped slightly, while the prices of transportation, means of communication, electronic products, gasoline and diesel have dropped significantly.

The influence of house price on CPI is less than that of medical treatment.

Some residents are puzzled that even eggs are cheap, but the price of "second Brother Pig" can still run so fast. Analysts pointed out that pork prices reached phased highs affected by the pig production cycle. In the past three years, the price of pigs in Anhui has been in the doldrums, the stock of live pigs and breeding sows has hit record lows, and the supply has decreased significantly. At the same time, the disaster weather pushed the price of fresh vegetables to record highs.

Health care reform and the increase in education costs are the main driving force for the rise in the price of service items in the province. As one of the pilot provinces of health care reform, since the second quarter of last year, various medical charge reforms have been carried out one after another, and the price of medical services has risen to a higher level. Affected by the lag of the price adjustment last year and the price adjustment after the upgrading of hospitals in some areas this year, the prices of medical services have risen in an all-round way.

In addition, the high price of educational services is affected by the increase in fees in private primary and secondary schools and the rising prices of preschool education, extracurricular tutoring, professional training and other programs. Health care and education together account for 3/4 of the increase in the price of services.

As for rents and self-owned housing prices, which often play an important role in price changes, Hefei, the provincial capital, has risen higher so far this year, but other cities in the province have basically stabilized or even declined, resulting in a limited overall increase of only 0.5%.

(source: Hefei Evening News, author: Wu Qi)