By Qiaoyi Li and Ryan Woo
BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s consumer inflation accelerated in August to the fastest pace in half a year but the uptick was due more to higher food costs from weather disruptions than a recovery in domestic demand as producer price deflation worsened.
A sputtering start in the second half is mounting pressure on the world’s second-largest economy to roll out more policies amid a prolonged housing downturn, persistent joblessness, debt woes and rising trade tensions.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.6% from a year earlier last month, versus a 0.5% rise in July, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday, but less than a 0.7% increase forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.
Extreme weather this summer from deadly floods to scorching heat has pushed up farm produce prices, contributing to faster inflation.
China’s affected crops due to various natural disasters totalled 1.46…
