Hong Kong’s headline inflation accelerates in June on surge in pork prices

The Hong Kong headline inflation accelerated in the month of June. The Census and Statistics Department showed that the overall consumer prices rose 3.3 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from 2.8 percent seen in May.

Stripping the effects of all Government’s one-off relief measures, the year-on-year rate of the rise in the Composite CPI in June was 3.2 percent, larger than that in May 2019, mainly because of the enlarged rises in the prices of pork and the charges for package tours. Meanwhile, the headline inflation for three-month period ending June 2019 came in at 0.5 percent, and that for the three-month period ending May was 0.3 percent.

Amongst the various components of the composite CPI, year-on-year rises in prices were seen in food, housing, miscellaneous services, miscellaneous goods, meals bought away from home, alcoholic drinks and tobacco, and transport. Meanwhile, the year-on-year falls were seen in electricity, gas and water, clothing and footwear, and durable goods.

A Government spokesman stated that while overall price pressures should stay largely contained in view of the earlier easing in fresh-letting residential rentals and modest global inflation, the inflation rate in the near-term might hinge on the supply situation and thus prices of fresh pork.