China's annual inflation at 0.2% in June, below expectations

The annual inflation rate in June in China was 0.2%, below market expectations, according to an official press release on Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Food prices fell by 2.1% in the country year-on-year in June, while non-food prices went up by 0.8%, the bureau said.

Consumer goods prices decreased by 0.1%, while service prices rose by 0.7% in the country over the same period.

On average, from January to June, the country's consumer prices rose by 0.1% compared with the same period of the previous year, it added.

Markets' expectation was 0.4% for the annual rate of June.

Meanwhile, the country's industrial producer factory prices fell by 0.8% year-on-year in June, 0.6 percentage points narrower than the previous month.