China’s factory price inflation cooled in July but not as much as expected, amid a wider slowdown in economic growth as Beijing remains locked in a heated trade dispute with Washington.

However, consumer inflation picked up from the previous month, largely due to a rise in non-food prices, official data showed on Thursday.

The July inflation data is the first official reading on the impact on prices from China’s retaliatory tariffs on $34 billion of U.S. good that went into effect on July 6 and apply to a range of products from soybeans, to mixed nuts and whiskey.

While policymakers are watching price pressures, the central bank is likely to give priority to policies that help shore up the slowing economy.

The producer price index (PPI) — a gauge of factory gate inflation — rose 4.6 percent in July from a year earlier, compared with an acceleration to 4.7 percent in June, according to the National Bureau of Statistics

(Source: Reuters)