China's Factory-Gate Prices Narrow Decline in October as Industrial Deflation Eases
China's Factory-Gate Prices Narrow Decline in October as Industrial Deflation Eases
China's industrial sector exhibited a nuanced pricing landscape in October 2025, as official data indicated a continued year-on-year decline in producer prices, albeit at a slower pace, alongside a tentative monthly uptick.
The Producer Price Index (PPI) for manufactured goods fell by 2.1% in October compared with the same month last year. This represented a moderation in deflationary pressure, as the rate of decline narrowed by 0.2 percentage points from September. On a month-on-month basis, the index registered a 0.1% increase, a reversal from the previous month's flat reading of 0.0%.
Concurrently, the purchasing price index for industrial producers decreased by 2.7% year-on-year. The decline here also softened, narrowing by 0.4 percentage points from the preceding month. Month-on-month, this index saw a 0.1% rise, maintaining the same pace of increase as recorded in September.
For the period from January to October, the average PPI fell by 2.7% compared with the same period a year earlier, while the average industrial producers' purchase price declined by 3.2%.
Year-on-Year Price Movements
A detailed breakdown of the October PPI reveals that prices for means of production fell by 2.4% year-on-year, dragging down the overall PPI level by approximately 1.77 percentage points. Within this category, mining and quarrying prices saw a significant decrease of 7.8%, followed by a 2.5% drop in raw materials industries and a 1.9% decline in processing industries.
Prices for consumer goods decreased by 1.4% year-on-year, contributing to a reduction of about 0.36 percentage points in the overall PPI. Among these, food prices fell by 1.6%, and clothing prices declined by 0.3%. In contrast, prices for general daily necessities rose by 1.0%, while durable consumer goods prices dropped by 3.2%.
On the purchasing side, the data showed widespread annual declines: fuel and power prices fell by 7.4%, agricultural and sideline products by 5.2%, chemical raw materials by 5.0%, and building materials and non-metallic products by 4.5%. Ferrous metal materials prices decreased by 2.8%, and textile raw materials prices were down by 1.8%. Notably, non-ferrous metal materials and wire prices provided a counterpoint, rising by 7.5%.
Month-on-Month Price Changes
In October, the PPI for means of production edged up by 0.1% compared to September, contributing approximately 0.08 percentage points to the overall monthly increase. Sectoral performance was mixed: mining and quarrying prices rose by 1.0%, raw materials industry prices were unchanged, and processing industry prices increased by 0.1%.
The consumer goods category showed no overall change month-on-month. However, underlying this stability, food and clothing prices both fell by 0.1%. Prices for general daily necessities rose by 0.7%, while durable consumer goods prices declined by 0.3%.
For industrial purchasers, non-ferrous metals and wire products led the monthly gains with a 2.4% increase, and ferrous metals prices rose by 0.2%. Conversely, agricultural and sideline products prices fell by 1.3%, chemical raw materials decreased by 0.6%, and both building materials and non-metallic products and textile raw materials declined by 0.2%. Fuel and power prices saw a slight drop of 0.1%.