China's inflation expectations easing

Expectations of consumer inflation in China fell in the first quarter of 2012 from the fourth quarter of last year, according to the central bank's latest survey of 20,000 households, published on Tuesday. The index measuring inflation expectations was at 62.1 percent, down 3.3 percentage points from the previous quarter and 10.7 percentage points from the first quarter of 2011, the survey showed.
Among residents surveyed, 31.4 percent of respondents expected consumer prices to climb further in the second quarter, down 5.4 percentage points from the survey in the previous quarter. Annual inflation cooled sharply to a 20-month low of 3.2 percent in February, but Chinese policymakers remain particularly sensitive to elevated commodity prices, given China's huge imports of raw materials.