A customer buys pork in a spot that sells national reserved pork in Dalian, Northeast China's Shenyang Province on Wednesday. For keeping an adequate pork supply during the Spring Festival, Dalian local government released 700 tons of pork to 140 spots. Photo: VCG

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, probably remained below 4 percent in April on the back of declining food prices, and it will continue to be weak throughout the year, experts told the Global Times on Monday.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is scheduled to release the figure on Tuesday.

Liu Xuezhi, a senior economist at the Bank of Communications, estimated that the index rose 3.6-4 percent last month due to the combined effect of increasing supplies of pork, overall weak demand, and an oil price slump. 

"Since April, food prices have generally dropped significantly. The price index of edible agricultural products dropped 3.2 percent in April from March and the supply of pork improved significantly. The wholesale price of pork fell to about 44 yuan ($6.2) per kilogram in late April, down nearly 6 percent from the previous month," Liu told the Global Times on Monday.

Also, prices of bulk commodities and international crude oil prices have been falling compared with the beginning of the year, he added.

Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, said the April CPI figure would be 3.5-4 percent due to the dire impact on consumption of the coronavirus outbreak. 

"There are signs of a decline in consumption, and prices in many catering and service industries are not going up. People are planning to save instead of spend," Cong said.

People said they plan to save more, according to a poll taken during the first quarter that was released by China's central bank at the end of April. The poll found that 53 percent intended to save more, while 22 percent intended to spend more. Those intending to save more rose 7.3 percentage points compared with the previous quarterly survey.

Consumption will revive from the current weak level, but it's unlikely to grow, experts predicted.

"Consumption in catering and accommodation is still dire compared with previous years," Liu said.

The CPI grew 4.3 percent year-on-year in March, down 0.9 percentage points from February, according to the NBS.