China has another headache now: It can't stem deflation

"Deflation is bad for the economy because consumers and companies may put off purchases or investments in anticipation of prices falling further. That in turn could further slow the economy, and create a vicious cycle.

...

Food prices were a major drag on the CPI, down 4.2% in November from a year earlier. In particular, pork prices plummeted 31.8%. "

oh no, people might put off their food purchases in case food comes down more (???)

cpi in china is weighted so that 21.6% of it is food. if food dropped 4.2%, and the overall inflation was -0.5%, then you do the math and see that everything other than food was actually a small 0.52% positive inflation. this is basically fake news

30 years and counting of nonstop economic woes for China. Hope they can turn it around!