China's June CPI falls 1.7 per cent; PPI declines 7.8 per cent in June

China's consumer price index (CPI)  declined 1.7 per cent in June from a year earlier according to the National Bureau of Statistics said today.

This marks CPIs' fifth consecutive month of decline since the index dropped 1.6 per cent in February, the first fall since October 2002.

The index marked a month-on-month drop of 0.5 per cent, according to NBS.

In the first half of this year, the CPI went down by 1.1 per cent. In May the CPI fell 1.4 per cent year on year (See: China's May CPI falls 1.4 per cent, PPI declines 7.2 per cent)

In cities the price dropped by 1.3 per cent and 0.6 per cent in rural areas.

Food prices, which comprise one-third of the CPI were down 0.3 per cent from a year ago and retail commodity prices dropped 1.4 per cent in the first half.

"Slackening market demand and excess production capacity are the main factors impeding the CPI," said Wang Yiming, vice president of Academy of Macroeconomic Research under the National Development and Reform Commission.

The summer grain output increased for six consecutive years with a total output of 123.35 million tons, an increase of 2.60 million tons, up 2.2 per cent, according to NBS website.