China's Oct consumer prices fall faster than expected
The nation's consumer prices swung into decline as the world's second-largest economy emerges from a post-pandemic slump. The consumer price index (CPI) dropped 0.2 percent in October from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Thursday, a faster decline than the forecast for a 0.1 percent fall in a poll conducted by Reuters news agency. CPI was unchanged in September. The figure was dragged down by faster slumping pork prices, down 30.1 percent after a 22 percent slide in September, driven by an oversupply of pigs and weak demand. The data follows other economic indicators that suggest a meaningful economic recovery remains elusive. CPI fell 0.1 percent month-on-month, compared with 0.2 percent gain in September. Meanwhile, China's producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went down 2.6 percent year-on-year in October, the NBS said. Economists had predicted a 2.7 percent fall for the month. Beijing has been ramping up measures to support the economy, including 1 trillion yuan in sovereign bond issuance and allowing local governments to frontload part of their 2024 bond quotas. Recent indicators have been mixed. China's imports unexpectedly grew in October while exports contracted at a quicker pace. Meanwhile, the official purchasing managers' index showed factory activity unexpectedly contracting and services activity slowing last month. (Reuters/Xinhua)