China’s National Bureau of Statistics said consumer prices were unchanged from a year earlier in July, beating expectations for a slight decline and matching June’s 0.0% reading. On a month-on-month basis, CPI rose 0.4%, reversing June’s 0.1% drop. Core inflation, which strips out food and energy, accelerated to 0.8% year-on-year, the strongest pace since February 2024, as service and consumer-goods prices firmed. Producer prices fell 3.6% from a year earlier, missing economists’ forecast for a 3.3% decline and extending a 34-month stretch of factory-gate deflation. The July fall matched June’s near two-year low, though the month-on-month drop narrowed to 0.2% from 0.4%. Food costs, weighed down by ample pork supplies and cheaper vegetables, slid 1.6% on the year, holding down the headline CPI. Beijing has stepped up measures to curb cut-throat price competition—dubbed the “anti-involution” campaign—and to boost consumption through trade-in subsidies and targeted fiscal support. Economists say the slight pickup in core inflation and the slower sequential fall in PPI hint at easing disinflation, but warn that a protracted property downturn, tepid job growth and external trade frictions continue to sap domestic demand. Many expect additional stimulus to be needed to anchor prices and revive industrial profitability.