China’s factory inflation hits 17-month low
China's factory-gate inflation eased to a 17-month low in July, defying global cost pressures as slower domestic construction weighed on raw material demand, although consumer price increases hit a two-year high as pork supplies tightened.
The producer price index (PPI) rose 4.2 per cent year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Wednesday, compared with a 6.1 per cent uptick in June and a median analyst forecast for a 4.8 per cent increase.
China's producer price growth has slowed from a 26-year high hit in October last year, giving policymakers some leeway to stimulate the flagging economy even as central banks elsewhere scramble to hose down rampant inflation with aggressive interest rate hikes.
Comments