China Inflation Expected to Subside in 2nd Half

China’s inflation rate will fall in the second half of the year thanks to higher pork and grain production, said a domestic economist Saturday.

Prices will likely peak in June as the month-on-month consumer price increases have slowed in recent months, said Fan Jianping, the State Information Center’s head of economic forecast.

China’s food prices, which accounts for nearly one third in the basket of goods used to calculate inflation rate, will ease from October after increasing pork output and an expected bumper grain harvest check price hikes.

The country will reap a bigger summer grain harvest this year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Summer grain output accounts for about 25 percent of the country’s annual grain production.

China’s consumer price index rose 5.5 percent year-on-year in May, shooting past the government’s 4 percent inflation target for 2011. the price rise was fueled by a food price jump of 11.7 percent and a pork price surge of 40.4 percent year-on-year in May.