China: Price pressures continue to fall in April as pandemic hits demand
Consumer prices fell 0.9% over the previous month in April, following March’s 1.2 % decrease. The print mostly reflected lower prices for food, especially for fresh vegetables and pork, as well as a decline in prices for transportation and communication, mostly reflecting a drop in oil prices.
Inflation declined from 4.3% in March to 3.3% in April. The print was below the 3.7% that market analysts had expected and was the lowest reading in seven months. Annual average inflation rose from 3.7% in March to 3.8% in April, the highest in almost eight years.
Annual producer prices (PPI), meanwhile, fell 3.1% year-on-year in April. The print exceeded the 1.5% drop in March and was sharper than the 2.6% decrease that market analysts had expected. The decline mostly reflected a sharp drop of 51.4% in prices for extraction of petroleum and natural gas.