China's exports are witnessing a downfall for the first time since 2016 after demand for Chinese-made goods slowed down, media reports said.

Officials told CNN that the slump will be difficult to shake off in 2024.

China is struggling to stem deflationary pressures.

China, the world's second-largest economy, witnessed its consumer price inflation in 2023 touching its weakest point in 14 years.

The consumer price index for December improved slightly from November, but was down 0.3% on the same month in 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday. For 2023 as a whole, prices were up by just 0.2 percent over 2022, the weakest reading since 2009, when CPI fell by 0.7 percent as a global recession hit, reported CNN.

Exports measured in US dollar terms stood at $3.38 trillion in 2023, down by 4.6 percent compared to the year before. In 2022, Chinese exports increased by 7% from the year earlier, the American news channel reported.

In 2016, China registered a decline in overseas shipments when exports dropped by 7.7 percent.