China Consumer Inflation Hits Nine-Month High

China's consumer inflation accelerated in October, rising to a nine-month high, as smaller declines in food prices weighed less on overall inflation, official data showed Thursday.

China's consumer price index increased 1.9% in October from a year earlier, compared with a 1.6% gain in September, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

Food prices fell 0.4% from a year earlier, declining for the ninth straight month, after dropping 1.4% in September. Nonfood prices grew 2.4% from a year earlier, the same as September.

The key inflation reading slightly outpaced a 1.8% gain forecast by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.

Policy makers in Beijing hope to keep inflation under about 3% this year.

On a month-to-month basis, CPI edged up 0.1% in October from September. In September, the index rose 0.5% from the previous month.

The producer price index climbed 6.9%, holding steady from September.

The reading for factory-gate prices came in faster than a forecast for a 6.6% increase by the polled economists.

PPI increased 0.7% in October from a month earlier. In September, it rose 1.0% from the preceding month.

--Lin Zhu

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 08, 2017 20:58 ET (01:58 GMT)