China's consumer prices picked up pace in November

China's consumer prices rose last month at their fastest pace since February 2024, official data showed Wednesday, following an extended period of deflationary pressure in the world's second-largest economy.

The consumer price index, a key measure of inflation, rose 0.7% year-on-year in November, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The reading was in line with a Bloomberg forecast and higher than the 0.2% increase recorded in October.

"The expansion ... was mainly driven by a shift from declines to increases in food prices," NBS statistician Dong Lijuan said in a statement interpreting the data.

Beijing has been battling sluggish domestic spending for several years, with a prolonged crisis in the property sector and lingering effects from the Covid pandemic weighing on consumer sentiment.

In a sign of persisting woes, the producer price index, which measures the prices of goods before they enter wholesale or distribution, fell by 2.2% year-on-year in November, NBS data showed.

The drop in factory gate prices was slightly faster than the 2.0% decline forecast by Bloomberg and the 2.1% decrease recorded in October.

China's monthly PPI has been in negative territory for more than three years, reflecting weak demand and a global oversupply of manufactured goods from the country.