China's consumer prices fall for third straight month
China's consumer prices declined for a third month in December while factory-gate prices extended their slide, highlighting deflationary pressures in an economy eyeing a solid recovery. The consumer price index (CPI) shed 0.3 percent in December from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday. On a monthly basis, the CPI went up 0.1 percent from the previous month, reversing a 0.5 percent decline registered in November. For the entire 2023, the CPI rose 0.2 percent. The producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went down 2.7 percent year on year in December, narrowing from a 3 percent fall in November. That marked the 15th straight month of declines.  On a monthly basis, the December PPI edged down 0.3 percent, while on a yearly basis, the PPI in 2023 went down 3 percent from 2022. Meanwhile, customs data showed China's exports grew 2.3 percent in December from a year earlier, adding to signs global trade is slowly turning a corner with the prospect of lower borrowing costs on the horizon. Still, customs authorities said the complexity and uncertainty of external factors is likely to increase in 2024. External demand is tepid and uncertainty caused by issues such as disruption in the Red Sea will disturb trade activity, an official with Chinese customs told reporters. More effort is needed to stabilise trade this year, customs said. Data also showed the country's trade surplus with the United States dropped to US$27.3 billion in December from US$29.8 billion the month before. The full-year trade surplus with the US stood at US$336.1 billion. (Reuters/Xinhua)