People wearing face masks move packs of vegetables at a wholesale market for agricultural products, as the country is hit by an outbreak of the novel coronavirus, in Beijing, China February 19, 2020.
Tingshu Wang | Reuters
BEIJING — China’s consumer price index fell in November for the first time in about a decade as food prices dropped.
The consumer price index, a measure of inflation that tracks prices for a basket of consumer goods and services, fell 0.5% in November from a year ago, China’s National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.
The decline marked the first drop since October 2009, according to the Wind Information database.
China CPI from 2005 to 2020
Food prices fell 2% as pork prices declined 12.5% in November from a year ago.
The drop in prices for the Chinese meat staple follows a surge in the last year due to a shortage of pork as a result of an African swine fever outbreak.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.