China’s economy back in decline as pork prices continue to plummet.
BEIJING, Nov 9 (Reuters) – China’s consumer prices swung lower in October, as key gauges of domestic demand pointed to weakness not seen since the pandemic, while factory-gate deflation deepened, casting doubts over the chances of a broad-based economic recovery.
The consumer price index (CPI) dropped 0.2% in October from a year earlier and slipped 0.1% from September, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Thursday.
The declines undershot the median 0.1% year-on-year fall and flat month-on-month reading predicted in a Reuters poll. Both indicators were last negative at the same time in November 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The headline figure was dragged by a further slump in pork prices, down 30.1%, speeding up from a 22% slide in September, amid an oversupply of pigs and weak demand.
However, even core inflation, which excludes food and fuel prices, slowed to 0.6% in October from 0.8% in September, pointing to China’s continued battle with disinflationary forces and the risk of again missing the government’s full-year headline inflation target, set at around 3%.
By Liangping Gao and Ryan Woo | Reuters
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