China Producer Prices Fall for First Time in Three Years, Deflation Worries Resurface

China Producer Prices Fall for First Time in Three Years, Deflation Worries Resurface
Workers manufacturing electric bicycles at a factory in Huaian, Jiangsu Province, China on May 26, 2019. Reuters
|Updated:

BEIJING—China’s factory gate prices shrank for the first time in three years in July, stoking deflation worries and adding pressure on Beijing to deliver more stimulus as the economy sputters amid an intensifying trade war with the United States.

With demand slowing at home and abroad, Chinese manufacturers are having to cut prices to keep market share, depressing profit margins and discouraging the fresh investment needed to get the economy back on its feet.