China's CPI remains flat in July, PPI declines on seasonal factors and trade uncertainties
China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, remained unchanged from a year earlier in July, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Saturday, CGTN reports.
On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.4 percent in July, reversing the 0.1 percent decline in June. The core CPI, deducting food and energy prices, climbed 0.8 percent, with the increase widening for three consecutive months.
Meanwhile, the producer price index (PPI), which measures costs of goods at the factory gate, fell 3.6 percent year-on-year in July. The PPI edged down 0.2 percent month-on-month, with the decline narrowing by 0.2 percentage points from June — the first narrowing in the month-on-month drop since March.
Prices in the consumption sector have shown positive momentum, driven by policy measures to boost demand, said NBS statistician Dong Lijuan. Dong attributed the monthly rise in CPI mainly to higher prices for services and industrial consumer goods, while relatively low food prices kept the year-on-year CPI unchanged.
Seasonal factors, along with uncertainties in the global trade environment, pushed the PPI down from June. However, the sustained optimization of the domestic market competition environment has contributed to a narrowing of price declines in related industries, Dong added.
As reported previously, China's trade in July beats expectations amid tariff truce uncertainty.
