2020.05.1205:01:00UTC+00China Inflation Slows To 7-Month Low; Producer Prices Fall At Faster Pace

China's consumer price inflation eased to a seven-month low in April and producer prices declined further reflecting weak domestic demand despite subsiding coronavirus pandemic, official data revealed Tuesday.

Consumer price inflation slowed notably to 3.3 percent in April from 4.3 percent in March, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics.

This was the weakest since October 2019 and also slower than economists' forecast of 3.7 percent.

Food prices advanced 14.8 percent and non-food prices moved up 0.4 percent. Pork prices, main source of food inflation, grew 96.9 percent but slower than March's 116.4 percent.

Core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, slowed marginally to 1.1 percent from 1.2 percent in March.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices fell 0.9 percent, bigger than March's 1.2 percent decrease. This was the second consecutive drop in prices.

Another report from NBS showed that producer prices decreased 3.1 percent year-on-year in April after falling 1.5 percent in March. Economists had forecast an annual fall of 2.6 percent.

Compared to March, producer prices were down 1.3 percent.

Price pressures are likely to ease further in the coming months, strengthening the case for additional monetary easing, Julian Evans-Pritchard, an economist at Capital Economics, said.

The People's Bank of China over the weekend said it will take strong measures to combat the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.