China Feb PPI down 0.4% year-on-year, CPI up 5.2%

[BEIJING] China's producer prices in February fell 0.4 per cent from a year earlier, official data showed on Tuesday, swinging back into deflationary territory as the coronavirus outbreak hit business activity.

Analysts had expected the producer price index (PPI) to fall 0.3 per cent from a year earlier, compared with a 0.1 per cent rise in January.

Consumer prices rose 5.2 per cent from a year earlier versus a 5.4 per cent increase in January and a 5.2 per cent rise tipped by economists in the poll.

China locked down Wuhan and some cities in Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, and imposed restrictions in other cities to contain the spread of the virus from late January.

The measures likely led to a major slowdown in the world's second-largest economy in the first quarter, analysts say.

REUTERS