China Jan inflation comes in at 0.8 pct, missing forecasts

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's consumer inflation slowed to a worse-than-expected rate of 0.8 percent in January, reinforcing signs of persistent weakness in the economy and broadening the scope for further stimulus steps by the central bank to ward off deflationary risks.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected annual consumer inflation to be 1.0 percent in January, compared with 1.5 percent in December.

The producer price index also missed forecasts, dropping 4.3 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday, its 35th consecutive monthly decline, as sluggish demand curbed the pricing power of companies.

The market had expected a 3.8 percent fall in producer prices after a drop of 3.3 percent in December.

Falling global energy and materials prices have weighed on China's factory prices, and to a lesser extent, consumer prices.

(Reporting by Judy Hua and Kevin Yao; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)