China’s factory gate prices declined at their fastest pace in more than three years in September, reinforcing the case for Beijing to unveil further stimulus as manufacturing cools on weak demand and US trade pressures, reported Reuters.
The producer price index (PPI), considered a key barometer of corporate profitability, dropped 1.2% year-on-year in September, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed on Tuesday. That marked the steepest decline since July 2016 but matched forecasts in a Reuters survey of analysts.
“We continue to anticipate further loosening in the next few quarters as demand-side pressures remain muted and factory-gate deflation deepens,” Martin Lynge Rasmussen, China Economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note.