One of China’s inflation gauges drops for the first time since 2020
China’s producer price index fell year-on-year in October 2022 for the first time since December 2020. BEIJING — China’s producer price index fell in October for the first time since December 2020, dragged down by drops in iron and steel prices, according to official data released Wednesday.
The decline comes off double-digit gains last year as commodity prices soared.
In October, measures for ferrous metals, which include iron and steel, and the coal industry saw the sharpest declines within the producer price index.
China’s producer price index fell year -on- year in October 2022 for the first time since December 2020. Pictured here is a furnace at a steel plant in August 2022 in Jiangxi province.BEIJING — China’s producer price index fell in October for the first time since December 2020, dragged down by drops in iron and steel prices, according to official data released Wednesday.The producer price index, which tracks the price of raw materials and other input costs, fell by 1.3% in October from a year ago. That slightly missed expectations for a 1.5% decline, according to a Reuters poll.
The decline comes off double-digit gains last year as commodity prices soared.
In October , measures for ferrous metals, which include iron and steel , and the coal industry saw the sharpest declines within the producer price index.Changes in China’s producer price index tend to precede similar changes in that of the U.S. by about one or two months, Francoise Huang, senior economist at Allianz Trade, said in October .While inflation has surged in the U.S. and Europe, China’s consumer price index has remained subdued due to lackluster domestic demand . Stringent Covid controls have dragged down China’s GDP to a 3% pace for the year , as of the third quarter.