China flirted with deflation in November, adding to pressure on Communist party officials to do more to revive consumer sentiment at a key meeting on the economy this month.
China’s consumer price index rose 0.2 per cent year on year, a five-month low and below a Reuters poll of analysts that forecast a gain of 0.5 per cent. The CPI rose 0.3 per cent year on year in October. On a month-on-month basis, prices dropped 0.6 per cent from October to November.
The country’s producer price index, which measures the prices of goods sold by Chinese manufacturers, declined 2.5 per cent year on year, compared with analysts’ forecasts for a 2.8 per cent drop and a decline of 2.9 per cent in October, continuing a two-year run of falling factory gate prices.