The consumer price index, a key measure of inflation, eased to 0.2 percent year-on-year in January, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

That was well down from the 0.8 percent seen in December, which was the quickest in almost three years, and short of the 0.4 percent rise forecast in a Bloomberg survey.

Activity in China's vast economy has stagnated in recent years, despite a historic boom in exports.

Authorities have adopted measures to boost consumption, including a subsidy scheme for household goods, but results have been muted.

Comparing January data with the same month last year is complicated by the varying dates of China's Lunar New Year public holiday, wrote Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management.

NBS data also showed that prices at the factory gate -- stuck in negative territory since October 2022 -- fell at a slower rate in January.

The producer price index's 1.4 percent year-on-year decrease was the slowest pace of deflation since July 2024.

It was also slightly better than the 1.5 decrease forecast in the Bloomberg survey.

Zhang added that 0.4 percent month-on-month growth in the PPI "suggests the deflationary pressure in the manufacturing sector may have become less severe".