China’s Sept consumer prices flat, factory deflation persists

A pickle vendor attends to a customer at a morning market in Beijing, China Aug 9, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File photo

BEIJING  – China’s consumer prices were flat in September, while factory-gate prices shrank at slower pace, official data showed on Friday, indicating deflationary pressures persist in the economy.

The consumer price index (CPI) was unchanged in September from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed, missing the forecast for a 0.2-percent gain in a Reuters poll. CPI rose 0.1 percent in August.

The producer price index (PPI) fell 2.5 percent from a year earlier, the narrowest decline since March. Economists had predicted a 2.4- percent fall for September.

Signs are emerging that the world’s second-largest economy is stabilizing, but concerns over the strength of recovery momentum remain.