China’s consumer prices fell in February for the first time in 13 months, in data that was distorted by seasonal factors but suggests deflationary pressures continue to weigh on the world’s second-largest economy.
The consumer price index declined 0.7 per cent in February from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday, deeper than the 0.4 per cent drop expected by economists in a Bloomberg poll.
The statistics office said the earlier than usual lunar new year holiday was the main reason for the decline. Prices tend to increase during the holiday, which falls on a different date every year, as consumers spend more on travel and food.