CPI expected to rise by over 2% in Feb

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, is likely to increase by over 2 percent in February year-on-year, chinanews.com.cn reported Monday, citing research reports by Chinese brokerage firms.

CPI is expected to continue to climb as the Spring Festival and winter weather helped push up food prices. However, the increase may be lower than market expectations, as food prices met a hefty decline after the festival, the report said. Most of the brokerage firms have projected a year-on-year CPI increase of over 2 percent, with 2.3 percent as the average.

Producer price index (PPI), a major measure of inflation at the wholesale level, will slightly increase in February over the previous month, the report said, citing the brokerages.

In January, China's CPI rose by 1.5 percent year-on-year, and PPI increased by 4.3 percent.

Investment and consumption indexes are estimated to remain stable while industrial output growth may reach a new high in February, the report said.