BUSINESS

Higher food prices push China inflation to 3.1 per cent in September

The Associated Press Published Sunday, October 13, 2013 11:38PM EDT

A boy, centre, plays with a bowl of vegetable peelings at his parents' vegetable stall while a costumer, right, prepares cash at a food market in Beijing, China, Friday, Aug. 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

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BEIJING -- Higher food prices pushed China's consumer inflation to 3.1 per cent in September.

The official Xinhua News Agency said September's inflation rate was up from 2.6 per cent in August, citing the National Bureau of Statistics.

Persistently higher inflation could complicate Beijing's efforts to keep China's economic recovery on track. Inflation of 2.5 per cent for the first nine months of the year was still below the government's 3.5 per cent annual target.

Food prices rose 6.1 per cent from a year earlier in September. Holidays, drought and floods were partly responsible for the increase.

Prices of non-food products rose 1.6 per cent.

The inflation figures come after China's exports unexpectedly dropped in September while imports rose.

Producer prices, which measure the costs of wholesale goods, fell 1.3 per cent, suggesting weak demand from businesses.