Breaking | China’s consumer prices fall in March as trade war reaches fever pitch

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Breaking | China’s consumer prices fall in March as trade war reaches fever pitch

As a wave of tariffs from US President Donald Trump washes on China’s shores – with a cumulative 125 per cent in import duties imposed on all goods from the world’s second-largest economy – Beijing has reported a drop in consumer prices while many exporters turn their eyes inward to find new sources of revenue.

The national consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge of inflation, fell 0.1 per cent year on year last month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.

That was a slightly smaller drop than the 0.12 per cent fall projected by financial data provider Wind. In the first two months of 2025, the metric saw a 0.1 per cent year-on-year decline.

Food prices declined by 1.4 per cent from a year earlier, while service prices rose by 0.3 per cent, per the statistics bureau.

Prices for other goods and services and clothing rose by 6.2 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively, while housing saw an increase of 0.1 per cent.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.5 per cent year on year last month. It rose 0.3 per cent year on year in January and February.

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