BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s consumer prices extended their decline in November while factory-gate deflation deepened, as persistent weakness in demand casts doubts over the sustainability of the economic recovery.
The consumer price index (CPI) dropped 0.5% in November both from a year earlier and compared with October, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Saturday. In October, the CPI fell 0.2% year-on-year.
Analysts polled by Reuters expected the CPI to fall 0.1% both year-on-year and month-on-month.
The producer price index (PPI) fell 3.0% year-on-year against a 2.6% drop in October, marking a 14th straight month of decline. Economists had predicted a 2.8% fall in November.
China’s economy has grappled with multiple headwinds this year including mounting local government debt, an ailing housing market and tepid demand at home and abroad, with consumers tightening their purse strings amid an elusive economic recovery.
Markets are awaiting more government stimulus at the annual agenda-setting “Central Economic Work Conference” due to be held around mid-December.
(Reporting by Ellen Zhang, Ella Cao and Ryan Woo; Editing by Sam Holmes and Edmund Klamann)
