Consumer inflation in China posts slowest pace in past year

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - China's annual consumer inflation fell below expectations in February, hitting the past year's lowest rate, according to data from the statistical office on Thursday.

Consumer prices rose 1% year-on-year last month, the slowest pace of gain since February 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

The market forecast was for a 1.9% increase in the cost of living after a 2.1% annual rise in January.

Food inflation hit a nine-month low of 2.6% in February, easing from 6.2% in January.

On a monthly basis, China's consumer prices index unexpectedly fell 0.5% in February, bucking the market estimate of 0.2% growth.

Core annual consumer inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, fell to 0.6% in February from 1% in January.

The producer price index in February dropped 1.4% from last year, thanks to easing commodity prices.