China's consumer inflation was steady at 2.3% year-on-year in March, a sign of stabilisation for the world's second-largest economy.
The rise in the consumer price index (CPI) released by the National Bureau of Statistics was the same as February's 2.3%, and slightly below market forecasts of 2.4% in a survey by Bloomberg News.
Moderate inflation can be a boost to consumption as it pushes buyers to act before prices go up, while falling prices encourage shoppers to delay purchases and companies to put off investment, both of which can hurt growth.
The producer price index (PPI), which measures prices of goods at the factory gate, fell 4.3% year-on-year, its slowest rate of decline since January 2015.
It increased 0.5% from February, its first month-on-month rise in two and a half years.
Even so, it marked the 49th consecutive monthly fall in producer prices as overcapacity in manufacturing drags on China's growth.
The consumer figures were driven by food price inflation of 7.6%, with fresh vegetable prices jumping 35.8% year-on-year and pork prices up a hefty 28.4%.
Analysts said vegetable prices were boosted by a cold snap that affected supplies, while pig farmers had previously cut supplies in the face of long-term low prices.
