Soaring CPI

Inflationary pressure haunted China all year long in 2007.

China's consumer price index (CPI), a key barometer for inflation, grew 6.9 percent in November year on year, its highest growth rate in a decade.

The CPI growth rate hovered above 3 percent-a recognized international standard to indicate inflation-from March this year and kept accelerating month after month.

The overall CPI growth in the first 11 months stood at 4.6 percent.

This year's CPI surge was triggered by soaring pork prices which grew nearly 50 percent each month compared to 2006. In November, the pork price grew 56 percent, and showed no signs of going down.

Reverberations from higher pork prices soon spread to other food sectors like cooking oil, vegetables as well as fruits.

Foodstuffs have a 33-percent weight in China's CPI and were the major force for the CPI surge.

The producer price index (PPI), another measurement for overall inflation, was up a mild 2.9 percent in the first 11 months.