From a property crisis to strict Covid controls to its lowest growth target in three decades, the Chinese economy is facing many problems. But inflation is not among them.
Data released last week showed that consumer prices added 2.1 per cent year-on-year in October — the kind of moderated gain that western policymakers can only dream of. Producer prices, a measure of prices for goods as they leave factory gates, entered negative territory for the first time since 2020.
There are caveats. Producer prices fell against a high base last year, China’s National Bureau of Statistics noted, with prices in the metals and coal mining industry falling significantly. But without food and energy, core inflation was 0.6 per cent: consumer prices heavily rely on pork, which makes up a tenth of the basket and whose price rose 52 per cent in October after swine fever-related decimations of herds.