Chine Taux d'inflation

China's consumer prices dropped by 0.7% yoy in February 2025, surpassing market estimates of a 0.5% decline and reversing a 0.5% rise in the prior month. This was the first consumer deflation since January 2024, amid fading seasonal demand following the Spring Festival in late January. Food prices fell the most in 13 months (-3.3% vs 0.4% in January), dragged by a steep decrease in cost of fresh vegetables (-12.6% vs 2.4%) and a sharp slowdown in pork prices (4.1% vs 13.8%). Meanwhile, non-food prices edged lower (-0.1% vs 0.5%), as increases in housing (0.1% vs 0.1%) and healthcare (0.2% vs 0.7%) were offset by declines in education (-0.5% vs 1.7%) and transport (-2.5% vs -0.6%). Core inflation, excluding volatile food and fuel prices, fell 0.1% in February, in contrast to a 0.6% rise in January. Monthly, the CPI fell 0.2%, shifting from January's 11-month top of a 0.7% rise and marking the first drop since last November. This fall was also steeper than consensus of a 0.1% decrease.