China inflation down sharply - UPI.com BEIJING, March 8 (UPI) -- China's inflation rate fell to 3.2 percent year-on-year in February, the lowest growth in 20 months, due to a slower rise in food prices, data showed Friday. The February consumer price index, China's main gauge of inflation, compared with a year-on-year jump of 4.5 percent in January. The January increase resulted largely from increased in retail prices, caused by the shopping spree during the traditional Chinese Lunar New Year, the National Bureau of Statistics said. The NBS said food prices, which account for a third of the basket of goods in the CPI index, increased 6.2 percent year-on-year in February, compared to 10.5 percent in January, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Inflation grew about 3.9 percent in the first two months of this year, in line with the 4 percent target for all of 2012 announced last week by Premier Wen Jiabao at the annual session of the Chinese parliament. Inflation has been a major source of concern for policymakers in the world's second-largest economy, and strong measures have been taken to tighten monetary policies to keep prices under control. China's inflation for all of last year was 5.4 percent. For this year, some economists have said inflationary pressures are expected to ease, with the annual CPI forecast to be around 3.5 percent. In his report to the annual session of Parliament, Wen lowered the country's growth target for 2012 to 7.5 percent, the first such change after seven years at 8 percent. Separately Friday, the NBS announced China's producer price index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level, remained unchanged in February from a year earlier, compared to an increase of 0.7 percent in January.