BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s producer prices in February rose at the slowest annual pace since June, official data showed on Wednesday, amid skyrocketing commodity prices, an uncertain global economy and resurgent domestic COVID-19 outbreaks.
The producer price index (PPI) increased 8.8% on year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement on Wednesday, easing from 9.1% growth in January.
Analysts in a Reuters poll had expected the PPI to rise 8.7%, moderating slightly from a month earlier.
China’s consumer price index (CPI) inched up 0.9% in February, the data showed, unchanged from the growth in January and market expectations.
China is targeting slower economic growth of around 5.5% in 2022, with the government citing multiple headwinds at home and abroad.
(Reporting by Liangping Gao and Ryan Woo; Editing by Richard Pullin)
