China Producer Price Index

The week kicked off with new price data out of China, where the National Bureau of Statistics reported a 9% year-on-year increase in producer prices, slightly higher than the consensus estimate of 8.8%. Upward price pressure persists despite efforts by the authorities to deflate a rallying commodity prices by releasing supply from strategic reserves. Producers are set to face more challenges going forward due to China’s ongoing Delta outbreak, which is locking down factory workers and clogging up domestic transportation networks; case-in-point is the recent shutdown of a terminal at the Ningbo-Zhoushan port, which is the world’s third-busiest by container traffic.