2019.10.1504:15:00UTC+00China Inflation Accelerates On Food Prices; Factory Gate Prices Decline Further

China inflation accelerated to the highest since 2013 on food prices, while factory gate prices eased further in September as trade disputes with the US and subdued demand weighed on the manufacturing sector.

Consumer price inflation rose more-than-expected to 3 percent in September from 2.8 percent in August, data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed Tuesday. The expected rate was 2.9 percent. Monthly inflation advanced to a seven-month high of 0.9 percent from 0.7 percent in August.

Food inflation climbed to 11.2 percent from 10 percent as disruption to pork supply following African swine fever pushed up pork price inflation sharply to 69.3 percent. Meanwhile, non-food inflation eased to 1 percent from 1.1 percent.

Core inflation excluding food and energy remained stable at 1.5 percent, data showed.

Consumer price inflation was mostly driven by surging food prices and is therefore not evidence of stronger demand, Julian Evans-Pritchard and Martin Rasmussen, economists at Capital Economics, said.

Looking ahead, consumer price inflation should continue to accelerate in the coming months as supply disruptions continue to push up pork prices and as the drag from lower oil prices eases, the economists added.

Another report from NBS showed that producer prices declined for the third straight month in September. Producer prices decreased 1.2 percent annually after falling 0.8 percent in August.

On month, producer prices gained 0.1 percent, offsetting a 0.1 percent drop in August.

Economists at Capital Economics anticipate further monetary policy loosening in the next few quarters as factory-gate deflation deepens on the back of cooling domestic demand.