(Yicai Global) Jan. 9 -- China's factory gate prices, a key indicator of corporate profitability, contracted 0.3 percent in 2019 following deflation in the second half, the National Bureau of Statistics said today.

Chief economists surveyed by Yicai Global had expected the producer price index to slide as much as 0.32 percent throughout the year, against a 3.5 percent gain in 2018.     

Prices slid 0.5 percent in December, more than the 0.38 percent that the surveyed chief economists had anticipated.

The PPI has been in decline since July and slid by 1.4 percent in November.