China is facing deepening economic challenges as consumer prices experienced their fastest decline in six months, signaling a persistent struggle to stimulate demand. This deflationary trend, coupled with a prolonged property market slump and mounting export difficulties, threatens the nation's economic growth targets.

• The consumer price index (CPI) dropped 0.4 percent year-on-year in August, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), exceeding the 0.2 percent fall predicted by economists.
• Economist Zichun Huang from Capital Economics noted that the slip reflects "volatile food prices" and that underlying inflation improvements are due to "temporary factors."
• Factory gate prices also fell by 2.9 percent, extending a negative streak since late 2022, while exports to the United States continued to decline amidst trade tensions.