China's consumer inflation accelerates in February, producer deflation eases

BEIJING, March 9 (Reuters) - China's annual consumer inflation accelerated in February, while producer deflation eased slightly, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.3% compared with the same month last year, picking up from the 0.2% increase in January and beating the expected 0.8% rise in a Reuters poll.

On a monthly basis, CPI increased 1%, compared with a 0.2% rise in January and an expected increase of 0.5%.

The producer price index (PPI) fell 0.9% year-on-year in February, after dropping 1.4% the previous month. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 1.2% drop.