Zhongshan's consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.3% in the first three quarters of 2019, a 0.5 percentage point more than the figure for the first half (1.8%), according to the statistics provided by Zhongshan Investigation Team of the National Bureau of Statistics. 

Influenced by the Spring Festival, the CPI increase in February fell back from the same period last year. Since March, the CPI has increased markedly, from 0.5% year-on-year in February to 3.9% in September. This was the highest since January, under the influence of the price increases on fruit, pork, and other food products. 

The cumulative price indices of 8 categories of goods and services showed a "7 ups and 1 down" trend. The prices of food, tobacco, and alcohol increased by 5.4%. Other goods and services rose by 2.8%, daily necessities and services by 1.9%, housing by 1.4%, health care by 1.2%, transportation and communications by 0.3%, and clothing by 0.3%. However, the prices for education, culture and entertainment fell by 0.4%. 

In the first three quarters, the CPI growth of Zhongshan was 0.5 percentage points lower than that of the whole province (2.8%) and ranked 8th among the 9 cities in the Pearl River Delta.