China’s consumer prices fell for a fourth consecutive month in January while factory-gate prices declined at a slower pace, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed on Thursday.
The country’s consumer price index（CPI）, a main gauge of inflation, dropped by 0.8 percent year on year in January, the NBS said.
On a month-on-month basis, the CPI increased by 0.3 percent in the same period.
The NBS said in a statement that the year-on-year decline in CPI came mainly due to the high base in the previous year, attributing the month-on-month growth in CPI to the rise in pre-Spring Festival holiday consumer demand.
China’s producer price index（PPI）, which gauges factory-gate prices, dropped by 2.5 percent from a year ago in January, following a 2.7 percent fall in December.
The NBS said the PPI decline was affected by many factors, including the fluctuations in international commodity prices.
On a month-on-month basis, the PPI dipped by 0.2 percent in January after a 0.3 percent decline in December.
Bruce Pang, chief economist at JLL Greater China, foresees a mid-term shift towards more normalized inflation rates and the continued improvement of China’s economic performance in the long term.
“From a full-year perspective, China’s CPI will rebound moderately, while the PPI is expected to turn from negative to positive,” Pang told CGTN.
