BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s factory gate prices for October dropped for the first time since December 2020, underlining faltering domestic demand and disruptions to production amid strict COVID-19 measures and a sluggish property sector.

The producer price index (PPI) fell 1.3% year-on-year from 0.9% gain a month earlier, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed on Wednesday, compared with a forecast of a 1.5% contraction in a Reuters poll.

The consumer price index (CPI) climbed 2.1% from a year earlier, easing from a 2.8% increase in September and slower than the 2.4% forecast by analysts.

A resurgence of COVID-19 cases, a property sector weighed down by huge debts and cautious consumer sentiment have dented the world’s second-largest economy.