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BEIJING — China’s inflationary pressure continued to ease in January, with the growth of both consumer and factory-gate prices slowing further, official data showed Wednesday.
The producer price index rose 9.1% from a year earlier in January, decelerating from a 10.3% increase in December, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The reading was lower than the 9.5% increase expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Softening coal and steel prices last month weighed on prices of overall industrial goods, dragging down the increase in PPI, said Dong Lijuan, a senior statistician with China’s statistics bureau.
Compared with December, PPI fell 0.2% in January, the statistics bureau said.
China’s consumer price index increased 0.9% on year last month, down from December’s 1.5% growth and in line with the growth rate expected by surveyed economists.
The CPI rose 0.4% on a monthly basis in January.
China’s core CPI, which strips out food and energy prices, rose 1.2% on year in January, on par with the pace recorded in December, the statistics bureau said.
