Key facts
- Producer price index rose 5.7% year-on-year in October, the fastest pace in nearly four and a half years, the bureau said.
- Consumer price index rose 0.7% year-on-year, below the 0.8% economists expected in the Reuters poll.
- Monthly consumer prices were unchanged in October, matching forecasts, after a 0.2% rise in September.
- Core inflation, excluding volatile food and energy prices, eased to 0.8% in October from 1.0% in September.
- The bureau's data showed producer prices rose 5.0% year-on-year in September.
China's producer price index rose 5.7% from a year earlier in October, the National Bureau of Statistics said on November 9, quickening from a 5.0% gain in September and beating the 5.3% increase economists forecast in a Reuters poll. The bureau said the reading was the fastest pace in nearly four and a half years.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% year-on-year, the bureau said, slower than September's 0.9% and below the 0.8% economists expected. On a monthly basis, the consumer price index was unchanged, matching forecasts, after a 0.2% rise in September. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, eased to 0.8% in October from 1.0% in September.
Reuters reported that the split reflected persistent cost pressures from higher oil prices despite weak domestic demand. Global oil prices remained elevated during much of October, raising costs for coal mining, oil and natural gas extraction and processing, chemicals and other energy-intensive sectors, a key driver of producer-price inflation, the report said. Those upstream price pressures have yet to fully feed through to consumers amid soft demand conditions, it said.
An official at China's state planner said last month that external shocks were having a greater impact while the imbalance between robust supply and weak domestic demand remained pronounced, according to the report. Reuters also reported that China's efforts to curb the yuan's rapid gains, alongside measures to stabilize the capital market, have yet to translate into a meaningful recovery in consumer sentiment.