BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s factory gate prices rose in annual terms in January for the first time in 12 months and at the fastest rate since May 2019, official data showed Wednesday, suggesting momentum gather growth for the world’s second largest economy.
The producer price index (PPI) rose 0.3% from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement, but slightly declined by a 0.4% decline reduced by analysts ’Reuters poll. PPI declined 0.4% in December.
China’s economy is expected to grow 8.4% this year, following a 2.3% rise in 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic that forced the country to shut down for much of the quarter in March last year.
But a resurgence of the disease last month, despite being largely isolated in the Hebei area around Beijing and the northeastern regions, raised concerns about a temporary disruption to production.
Some regional authorities implemented drastic measures introducing home quarantines and travel bars until the country’s worst uprising since March 2020.
China’s factory activity grew at the slowest pace in five months in January, official data showed, revealing the impact of the revolution on production as well as services including logistics and transportation while the country was trying to keep COVID-19 ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays.
China will not release several key data sets such as trade, industrial output and retail sales for January and instead reports reporting January-February figures in March, leaving markets with fewer data points to improve health. assess the economy.
Consumer price index (CPI) fell sharply 0.3% in January from a year earlier, the Bureau of Statistics said in a separate report, compared to any change slowed by a Reuters poll and a 0.2% increase in December.
Reciting with Ryan Woo; Written by Se Young Lee; Edited by Sam Holmes