The data came along with the release of the consumer price inflation index, which rose 1.3 percent in October, slightly below the market forecast of 1.5 percent and the 1.6-percent rise in September.
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On a month-on-month basis, CPI fell 0.3%, compared with a 0.1% increase in September.
In particular, food inflation moderated to 1.9% in October, down from an increase of 2.7% in September. The index fell 5.1 percent from a year ago in the January – October period.
Overcapacity in manufacturing has been a major drag on China’s growth and analysts said the protracted declines in PPI boded ill for industrial prospects.
In the course of pursing the goal, China is trying to adjust itself to a “new normal” of slower growth and turn its economy into a more consumption-driven model, rather than relying heavily on exports and government-led investment.
In early European trade the main stocks markets rose, rebounding from the previous day’s losses.
Although no official numerical targets have been offered, President Xi Jinping said recently that annual growth of 6.5 percent would be required for China to achieve its target to “complete the building of a moderately prosperous society” by 2020.
China is already in its biggest easing cycle since the height of the financial crisis, but low inflation means that real interest rates remain high for many firms, especially manufacturers many of whom have already endured several years of falling factory gate prices.
To combat the economic slowdown, the central bank has cut benchmark interest rates six times in the last 11 months and lowered banks’ reserve requirement ratio five times in the last nine months.
Tuesday’s weak inflation print continues a well-established trend of falling producer prices and tepid consumer price rises, in part a result of sharply lower commodity prices in 2015 but also reflecting slowing demand growth for many goods.
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In the eurozone, inflation has averaged 1.2 percent in the four years since Mario Draghi took the helm of the European Central Bank in November 2011, according to Bloomberg calculations.
