China’s Lingering Deflation Risks Offer Room for More Easing

  • Food price inflation slows to 2.7%, non-food prices rise 1%
  • Factory gate deflation reflects commodity price declines
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China’s consumer inflation moderated and factory gate deflation extended a record stretch of declines, signaling the People’s Bank of China still has room to ease monetary policy further to support a slowing economy.

The consumer-price index increased 1.6 percent in September from a year earlier, slowing from a 2 percent rise in August and compared with a 1.8 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The producer-price index fell 5.9 percent, extending its streak of negative readings to 43 months, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.