BEIJING - China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, was down 0.4 percent year-on-year in August, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Wednesday.

NBS statistician Dong Lijuan attributed the CPI decline to the high comparison base from the same period last year and a rise in food prices that was below the seasonal level.

The core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.9 percent, marking the fourth consecutive month of increase.

PPI down 2.9 percent

The bureau's data also showed the producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went down 2.9 percent year-on-year in August.

The decline narrowed by 0.7 percentage points from the previous month, marking the first such narrowing since March this year and suggesting an improvement in industrial demand amid government efforts to bolster economic growth.

On a monthly basis, the PPI broke its downward trend to hold steady in August after a 0.2 percent decrease in July.

For the first eight months of the year, the PPI was down 2.9 percent compared to the same period in 2024.

NBS statistician Dong noted that the narrowing year-on-year PPI decline was due to several positive developments in addition to a lower comparison base from the previous year.

These included the implementation of more proactive macro policies and positive shifts in several industries, Dong said.

The optimization of the domestic market and the growth of new economic drivers were key factors, with prices for integrated circuit packaging and testing rising 1.1 percent and ship and related equipment manufacturing increasing by 0.9 percent, said Dong, adding that rising demand for high-end consumer goods drove price increases in specific sectors.