Customers select newly arrived Chilean cherries at a supermarket in Tianjin, north China, on December 26, 2024 (XINHUA)  

China's inflation remained stable last year with mild consumer price growth and narrowing declines in producer prices as domestic demand continued to warm up amid sustained economic recovery.

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 0.2 percent year on year in 2024, official data showed on January 9.

In December alone, the CPI edged up 0.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, last month rose 0.4 percent year on year, and was up from 0.3 percent in November 2024.

On a monthly basis, the CPI was flat in December, following a 0.6-percent decrease in November.

Thursday's NBS data also revealed that the producer price index (PPI), which measures costs of goods at the factory gate, went down 2.3 percent year on year in December, narrowing from a 2.5-percent drop in the previous month. Compared with November, the PPI inched down 0.1 percent.

In 2024, the national producer price declined by 2.2 percent, less than the 3-percent drop recorded in 2023.

Analysts believe last year's consumer and producer prices, although largely operating at low levels, remained stable and continued to improve, pointing to warming market sentiment.

China in 2024 implemented a major program of promoting large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins, in an effort to stimulate domestic demand and shore up the economy. This program encourages factories to replace old machines with more advanced ones, while individual consumers can enjoy subsidies on the likes of automobiles, home appliances and more.

These policies have produced notable results. Official data showed that the trade-in scheme boosted sales of automobiles by 920 billion yuan (nearly $128 billion) in 2024, while improving sales of home appliances by 240 billion yuan.

However, insufficient domestic demand was still a prominent problem in the Chinese economy, and experts call for even more efforts to deliver vitality to the market.

At the Central Economic Work Conference in December 2024, China's policymakers, while mapping out economic work for 2025, highlighted the need to vigorously boost consumption, improve investment efficiency, and expand domestic demand on all fronts.

The government on January 8 announced a raft of measures to strengthen the consumer goods trade-in program this year--expanding home appliance categories eligible for subsidies and including a broader range of passenger vehicles in the program. Notably, the central government has earmarked 81 billion yuan to ensure delivery of these subsidies.

Analysts have predicted that China's consumer and producer price levels will further improve in 2025, as supportive policies and continued economic recovery are expected to help raise market confidence.