Consumer prices fall in February

China's consumer price index (CPI) dropped 1.6 percent year-on-year in February, the first negative growth since December 2002, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday.

The producer price index (PPI), a measure of wholesale prices, fell by 4.5 percent year-on-year in February after a 3.4 percent decline in January, the sharpest decline since April 1999.

China's tightening monetary policy starting at the end of 2007 caused the CPI to start falling in May after it peaked at 8.7 percent in February last year. It fell to 1 percent in January, the lowest in 30 months.