China's Inflation Slows; Producer Price Inflation At 6-Month High

China's consumer price inflation slowed in September on falling food prices, while producer prices climbed at the fastest pace in six months, data published by the National Bureau of Statistics showed Monday.

Consumer price inflation eased to 1.6 percent in September from 1.8 percent in August. The rate came in line with expectations.

Inflation was well below the government's full year target of around 3 percent.

Data showed that food prices declined 1.4 percent versus a marginal fall of 0.2 percent a month ago.

On the other hand, non-food prices grew 2.4 percent, faster than the 2.3 percent rise in August. Prices of consumer goods rose 0.7 percent and services prices advanced 3.3 percent.

Month-on-month, consumer prices gained 0.5 percent, following a 0.4 percent rise in August. This was the third consecutive rise in prices.

In a separate communiqué, the NBS said producer price inflation accelerated to 6.9 percent from 6.3 percent in the previous month.

This was the fastest growth since March, when prices increased 7.6 percent. Economists had forecast inflation to rise marginally to 6.4 percent.

On a monthly basis, producer prices moved up 1 percent after gaining 0.9 percent.

Elsewhere, People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said Sunday that China's economy is set to achieve 7 percent growth in the second half of the year on rapid growth in household consumption, after GDP rebounded 6.9 percent in the first half.

The government targets around 6.5 percent expansion for the whole year of 2017. The National Bureau of Statistics is slated to publish third quarter GDP data on October 19.