China's consumer prices return to positive territory

China's consumer prices returned to positive territory for the first time in six months in February while factory-gate prices have declined at a faster pace, data showed on Saturday.

The country's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose by 0.7 percent year-on-year in February after a 0.8 percent decline in January, the National Bureau of Statistics said. 

Within the CPI, food prices dropped 0.9 percent year-on-year in February, narrowing from a 5.9 percent decline in the previous month. The prices of pork - a staple for Chinese dinner tables – increased by 0.2 percent in February after a 17.3 percent drop in January. 

On a month-on-month basis, the CPI increased by 1 percent last month, versus a 0.3 percent rise in January. 

The growth in core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices and is deemed a better gauge of the supply-demand relationship in the economy, rose by 1.2 percent year-on-year in February after a 0.4 percent rise in January. 

Dong Lijuan, an NBS statistician, said that there has been an improvement in the inflation profile, while the PPI declined as February marks the offseason for industrial production due to the Spring Festival impact.

China's producer price index, which gauges factory-gate prices, dropped by 2.7 percent from a year ago in February, following a 2.5 percent fall in January, the NBS said. 

On a month-on-month basis, the PPI dipped by 0.2 percent in January, the same as January, according to the NBS.