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China's consumer price index (CPI) for September dropped 0.7 percent compared to the same period last year, although it increased one percent compared with August, official statistics show.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday that the CPI fell 0.8 percent year-on-year in urban areas in September, while in rural areas, it dropped 0.5 percent.
Figures show that, in the first nine months of 2002, the CPI dropped 0.8 percent year-on-year.
Twenty-three of 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions saw drops in CPI - ranging from 0.2 percent to 2.5 percent-compared with the September 2001 figures. Those that experienced the most significant drops were Chongqing, down 2.5 percent; Beijing, down 1.9 percent, and Shanxi and Guangdong, both down 1.4percent.
Figures show that the prices of services in September rose 1.3 percent year-on-year. Consumer goods prices dropped 1.3 percent, food, 0.2 percent and non-food products, 0.9 percent.
Meanwhile, the price of food drop 0.2 percent year-on-year - with rice down 2.7 percent, seafood down 2 percent, meat and poultry products down 0.4 percent and eggs down 2.2 percent - despite a rise of 3.4 percent in vegetable prices.
The price of clothing fell 2.6 percent. 2001, and products in sectors such as medicine, transport, telecommunications and housing all dropped year-on-year.
(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2002)
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