China's September inflation hits 4-year low of 1.6%

Inflation in China fell to 1.6% in September, lowest in four years while thee producer price index (PPI), which measures inflation at wholesale level, dropped 1.8% year on year.

Growth in China's consumer inflation slowed than market expectation to 1.6% in September, the lowest since January 2010, according to the official data released today.

This is compared with an increase of 2% registered in August, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement on its website.

On a monthly basis, the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.5% last month, faster than August's 0.2% increase, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The CPI grew 2.1% year on year in the first nine month, well below the 3.5% full-year control target set by the government.

But at the same time the PPI, which measures inflation at wholesale level, dropped 1.8% year on year in September, the NBS said.

The PPI declined for the 31st straight month and in a faster pace than the previous month, marking existing pressures from slowing economic growth.

The PPI dropped 1.2% year on year in August, 0.9% year on year in July, 1.1% in June, 1.4% in May, 2% in April and 2.3% in March.

Factory prices of production materials went down 2.4% in September, contributing 1.8 percentage points to the PPI drop, while factory prices for consumer goods gained 0.1%.

In the first nine months, the country's PPI dropped 1.6% year on year, the data showed.

China is expected to come up with the Q3 figures of GDP amid speculation that it may miss the official target of 7.5% this year. Last year the economy registered 7.7% growth.