{"id":336659,"date":"2026-03-09T09:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T09:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/336659\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T09:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T09:14:14","slug":"china-consumer-prices-jump-on-holiday-boost-factory-gate-deflation-lingers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/336659\/","title":{"rendered":"China consumer prices jump on holiday boost; factory-gate deflation lingers"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEIJING (Reuters) — China’s consumer inflation accelerated to the highest in more than three years due to the effects of the Lunar New Year holiday, while producer deflation persisted as weak demand remained a drag on an economy facing stiff external challenges.<\/p>\n

Policymakers have been trying to boost consumption over the past two years, but analysts say more needs to be done to address the supply-demand imbalance.<\/p>\n

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.3% year-on-year for the fifth straight month of gains and outpaced the 0.2% increase in January, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday. The pace beat an expected 0.8% rise in a Reuters poll.<\/p>\n

A nine-day Lunar New Year holiday<\/a> boosted domestic travel and consumer spending, lifting the headline CPI reading as services price surged. The holiday period last year was one day shorter and started in late January.<\/p>\n

Core CPI, which excludes volatile prices of food and fuel, rose 1.8% year-on-year last month, compared with the 0.8% rise in January.<\/p>\n

On a monthly basis, CPI increased 1%, compared with a 0.2% rise in January and an expected increase of 0.5%.<\/p>\n

The economy has been beset by a years-long property market slump and external trade uncertainties, with protectionist U.S. policies posing fresh challenges to policymakers.<\/p>\n

Beijing has vowed to keep cracking down on excessive competition and ensure smoother exit of inefficient production capacity in order to stabilize prices.<\/p>\n

However, the deflationary impulse across the economy continues to exert margin pressure on the manufacturing sector, while underpinning expectations of sustained price falls in a further blow to confidence.<\/p>\n

There was a modicum of relief in the latest data, however. The producer price index (PPI) recorded the smallest year-on-year drop since July 2024, having fallen 0.9% in February. It declined 1.4% the previous month, and economists polled by Reuters had expected a 1.2% drop.<\/p>\n

NBS statistician Dong Lijuan attributed the milder producer deflation to factors including stronger prices in advanced and emerging sectors as well as capacity management in key industrial sectors, according to a statement.<\/p>\n

Beijing is aiming for GDP growth of between 4.5% and 5%<\/a> for the year, slower than the previous year’s “around 5%,” signalling willingness to accommodate reforms that could help the economy reduce its reliance on external demand.<\/p>\n

In a report presented at the annual parliamentary meeting, Chinese Premier Li Qiang reiterated that driving “an appropriate rebound” in prices was one of the key considerations for monetary policy.<\/p>\n

The government’s CPI target for 2026 remained unchanged at “around 2%,” a goal that China’s state planner said was “conducive to guiding public expectations and boosting market confidence while also leaving room for macro regulation and further reforms.”<\/p>\n

China has not achieved its annual CPI goals for years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEIJING (Reuters) — China’s consumer inflation accelerated to the highest in more than three years due to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[7510,72,114,1312,12045,113,154648,3519,61,60,154647,154649,10684],"class_list":["post-336659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-boost","tag-business","tag-china","tag-consumer","tag-deflation","tag-economy","tag-factory-gate","tag-holiday","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jump","tag-lingers","tag-prices"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}