The survey was conducted to people from six cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Xi'an and Chongqing.

According to the survey, 31.6 percent people predicted the commodities prices will increase, 45.4 percent people thought the prices will be nearly the same as last year while 22.3 percent people thought the prices will drop this year.

Up to 41 percent people predicted the prices for the services sector would increase from last year, 40.9 percent people thought the prices would keep stable while 16.6 percent people thought the services would charge people less this year.

The predictions of people from different cities had sharp differences with 52.5 percent Beijing people predicting the commodity price would increase this year while the proportion only reaching 19.7 percent in Guangzhou.

The survey indicated that the prices for the service sector were more likely to increase than those for commodity prices, with three reasons as following, said an analyst:

* The consumption structure for Chinese people has changed a lot, and people began to pay more attention to service consumption such as education, medical treatment, communications and travel

* Chinese people had immature life security system

* Most service commodity providers lacked real competitive rivals, so the prices cannot be regulated by the market

(eastday.com February 9, 2002)