As China’s economy delivered its best performance since the coronavirus pandemic emerged, one metric has remained resolutely downbeat.
Industrial production has powered to its highest rate of growth in 2020, surpassing most of 2019. Consumption has recovered and exports are booming, rising by 21 per cent in November. But the same month, the country’s consumer price index fell into negative territory for the first time in over a decade.
The headline rate of minus 0.5 per cent was mainly driven by pork, a crucial component in the basket of goods and services used to determine the price level. Pork prices rose sharply last year as African swine fever swept through China’s herds, but have recently begun to decline, dragging overall price growth into negative territory.