Chinese customers walk in the rain with their umbrella at a shopping mall in Beijing. - AP
BEIJING: China's consumer prices rose at a faster-than-expected rate in July, while producer deflation persisted, as Beijing ramps up support for its frail consumer sector in the face of a sputtering economic recovery.
The data comes in the wake of shrinking manufacturing activity and raised concerns about the outlook for exports at a time of soft domestic demand that has hobbled the world's second-biggest economy.
