China’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 0.2% in October despite a drop in food prices, its first positive growth since June.
Consumer goods prices dropped by 0.2% year-over-year while service prices were up 0.8%, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics. This is the country’s strongest CPI increase since January, with Reuters analysts having projected it would remain flat.
“In October, policies aimed at expanding domestic demand continued to take effect, coupled with the boost from the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays,” said National Bureau of Statistics chief urban statistician Dong Lijuan.
Urban prices were up 0.3% in October, with rural prices down 0.2%.
Food prices declined by 2.9%, and non-food prices increased by 0.9%. The price of eggs fell by 11.6% and the price of livestock and meat dropped by 7.4%, negatively impacting the CPI by 0.08 and 0.23 percentage points.
Fresh fruit, vegetable, and grain prices were down 2.0%, 7.3%, and 0.7%.
Clothing prices increased by 1.7% year-over-year. Housing prices were up 0.1%, and transportation and communication prices decreased 1.5%.
China’s CPI was also up 0.2% month-over-month, with urban prices growing by 0.2% and rural prices rising 0.1%. Consumer goods and services prices increased by 0.2% each.
The Purchasing Managers Index for the country’s manufacturing sector was 49.0% in October, down 0.8% from September. Its Producer Price Index for industrial products fell 2.1%, dropping 0.2% from September.
In October, China’s exports also dropped by 1.1%, the first decline since March 2024. This was driven by a 25% decrease in shipments to the United States.
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