China's January CPI year-on-year increase fell to 0.2%, and the year-on-year decline of PPI narrowed to 1.4%

In January, resident consumption demand continued to recover, with the CPI rising 0.2% month-on-month, and the year-on-year increase falling from 0.8% to 0.2%. The core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, rose 0.8% year-on-year. Influenced by the ongoing construction of a unified national market, increased demand in certain industries, and the transmission of international commodity prices, the PPI rose 0.4% month-on-month, with the year-on-year decline narrowing from 1.9% to 1.4%. On February 11, the National Bureau of Statistics released data showing: China's January CPI rose 0.2% month-on-month and 0.2% year-on-year, compared to a previous value of 0.8%. The core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, rose 0.8% year-on-year. China's January PPI rose 0.4% month-on-month, marking four consecutive months of increase, with the increase expanding by 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous month. The year-on-year PPI was -1.4%, compared to a previous value of -1.9%. Dong Lijuan, Chief Statistician of the Urban Division of the National Bureau of Statistics, interprets the CPI and PPI data for January 2026: 1. The year-on-year increase in CPI has fallen mainly due to the impact of the Spring Festival falling in a different month, while the core CPI remains moderately rising. The year-on-year increase in CPI has decreased for the following two reasons: First, the impact of the Spring Festival falling in a different month. Last January was the month of the Spring Festival, with significant increases in food and some service prices, leading to a higher comparison base from the same period last year, which has significantly driven down this month's year-on-year increase. By category, food prices fell by 0.7%, impacting the year-on-year CPI decrease by about 0.11 percentage points, while last month’s impact on CPI was an increase of about 0.21 percentage points. Among food items, fresh vegetable prices rose by 6.9%, with the increase falling by 11.3 percentage points compared to last month, leading to a decrease in the year-on-year CPI impact of about 0.27 percentage points; fresh fruit prices rose by 3.2%, with the increase falling by 1.2 percentage points; pork and egg prices fell by 13.7% and 10.6%, respectively. Service prices rose by 0.1%, impacting the year-on-year CPI increase by about 0.05 percentage points, with the impact on the year-on-year CPI decrease by about 0.20 percentage points compared to last month. In services, the prices of airplane tickets, travel agency fees, and housekeeping services fell by 14.3%, 7.7%, and 3.5%, respectively, collectively impacting the year-on-year CPI decrease by about 0.16 percentage points, while last month their impact on the year-on-year CPI was an increase of about 0.04 percentage points. Second, fluctuations in international oil prices have led to an expansion of the decline in energy prices. In January, energy prices fell by 5.0%, impacting the year-on-year CPI decrease by about 0.34 percentage points, with the downward impact on the year-on-year CPI increasing by about 0.06 percentage points compared to last month, among which gasoline prices fell by 11.4% year-on-year, with the decline expanding by 3.0 percentage points compared to last month. Resident consumption demand continues to recover, and the trend of a moderate rise in core CPI remains unchanged. First, the core CPI has continued to rise month-on-month. Excluding food and energy prices, the core CPI rose 0.3% month-on-month, the highest in nearly six months. Among them, the prices of airline tickets and travel agency fees rose 5.7% and 2.0% month-on-month, respectively; the price increases for housekeeping services, hairdressing, movie, and ticket prices ranged from 0.4% to 2.8%; the prices of data storage devices and computers rose 8.0% and 2.6%, respectively; the price increases for household appliances, daily household goods, and personal care products ranged from 0.7% to 1.4%. Second, the year-on-year increase in industrial consumer goods prices excluding energy continues to expand. The year-on-year increase in industrial consumer goods prices excluding energy rose 2.6%, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from last month. Among them, the price of gold jewelry rose 77.4% year-on-year; the price increases for household appliances, daily household goods, and clothing ranged from 2.1% to 6.6%. Before the festival, the supply of important livelihood commodities was sufficient and prices were stable. Food prices remained flat month-on-month, with fresh vegetable prices falling 4.8%, grain and cooking oil prices falling 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively, while pork and poultry prices rose 1.2% and 0.2%, respectively, and prices for aquatic products and fresh fruits both rose 2.0%. II. PPI continues to rise month-on-month, and the year-on-year decline narrows PPI rose 0.4% month-on-month, marking four consecutive months of increase, with an increase of 0.2 percentage points from last month. The main characteristics of this month's PPI month-on-month operation are as follows: First, the continuous promotion of the construction of a unified national market has driven price increases in some industries. The prices of cement manufacturing and lithium-ion battery manufacturing both rose 0.1% month-on-month, marking four consecutive months of increase; the prices of photovoltaic equipment and components manufacturing changed from a decrease of 0.2% last month to an increase of 1.9%, and the prices of basic chemical raw materials manufacturing changed from a decrease of 0.1% to an increase of 0.7%. The prices of black metal smelting and rolling processing industries changed from a decrease of 0.1% to an increase of 0.2%. Second, increased demand has driven price increases in related industries. The accelerated development of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and the growth in computing power demand have driven the prices of computer communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing to rise 0.5% month-on-month, with prices for electronic semiconductor materials and external storage devices and components rising 5.9% and 4.0%, respectively; the increased stocking demand for gifts and food before the Spring Festival has driven the prices of arts and crafts and ceremonial supplies manufacturing and agricultural and sideline food processing industries to rise 4.1% and 0.3%, respectively; the increased demand for winter cold protection and warmth has driven the prices of cold protection clothing and down processing to rise 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively. Third, input factors have affected the price trends of domestic non-ferrous metals and petroleum-related industries. The rise in international non-ferrous metal prices has driven the prices of domestic non-ferrous metal mining and selection industries and non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industries to rise 5.7% and 5.2% month-on-month, respectively, with silver smelting, copper smelting, gold smelting, and aluminum smelting prices rising 38.2%, 8.4%, 4.8%, and 2.3%, respectively. The fluctuations in international crude oil prices have affected the prices of domestic oil extraction and refined petroleum product manufacturing, which fell 3.1% and 2.5%, respectively. PPI fell 1.4% year-on-year, with the decline narrowing by 0.5 percentage points from last month. By industry, the prices of non-ferrous metal mining and selection industries rose 22.7%, the prices of cultural, educational, artistic, sports, and entertainment products manufacturing industries rose 21.2%, and the prices of non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industries rose 17.1%, while the prices of electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing industries rose 0.8% The effectiveness of capacity governance in key industries continues to be evident, with improvements in the supply-demand structure in some sectors. The price of non-metallic mineral products decreased by 5.4%, the price of black metal smelting and rolling processing decreased by 3.7%, and the price of computer communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing decreased by 1.6%, with the decline narrowing compared to the previous month. Prices in energy-related industries continued to decline, with the price of oil and gas extraction decreasing by 16.7%, the price of petroleum, coal, and other fuel processing decreasing by 11.5%, the price of coal mining and washing decreasing by 9.8%, and the price of electricity and heat production and supply decreasing by 2.3%. In addition, the National Bureau of Statistics also responded to the base period rotation of price indices such as CPI: On February 11, the National Bureau of Statistics released the national consumer price index (CPI) and industrial producer price index (PPI) data with 2025 as the base period, marking the first data release after this base period rotation. After the base period rotation, changes in the survey classification directory, survey points, representative specifications, and weights will all have certain impacts on the price indices, but the direction and magnitude of these factors vary, and only when combined do they affect the overall index. It is estimated that the impact of this base period rotation on the year-on-year indices of CPI and PPI is approximately 0.06 and 0.08 percentage points, respectively, which is relatively small overall. The CPI base period rotation primarily involves the revision of the survey classification directory. In this round of base period, reference was made to the United Nations' Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP) 2018 and China's Classification of Resident Consumption Expenditure 2013. Based on thorough research of the consumption market and feedback from various parties, adjustments were made to the CPI survey classification directory according to actual conditions. After the adjustments, the number of major categories and basic classifications remains unchanged, still consisting of 8 major categories and 268 basic classifications. Based on the reduction, merging, and splitting of certain classifications, new categories reflecting new consumption content such as housing security equipment, elderly products, dishwashers, automotive electricity, photography services, internet medical services, and medical beauty services were added, further expanding the coverage of new economies and new fields. In addition, based on the actual content covered by the survey, the category name "Food, Tobacco, and Alcohol" was changed to "Food, Tobacco, Alcohol, and Dining Out," and the category name "Tourism" was changed to "Travel Agency and Other Tourism Services"; to better reflect the overall changes in residents' travel consumption prices, a new travel service price index was added, which includes categories such as airplane tickets, train tickets, accommodation, vehicle rentals, travel agencies, and other tourism services. After the revision of the survey classification directory was completed, localities selected survey points and specific representative specifications based on actual conditions. In this round of base period, there are approximately 120,000 national CPI survey points and about 620,000 survey specifications, further expanding the coverage compared to the previous base period. To fully reflect new models of resident consumption, new retail locations such as membership supermarkets and emerging instant retail platforms like flash sales were added as survey points, along with representative specifications such as smart drones. This round of base period also further optimized the data collection methods for CPI, with an increased proportion of big data applications such as online transaction prices, enterprise electronic data, and administrative records. In 2025, localities collected prices for a whole year based on the newly selected base period specifications, providing a comparative benchmark for the calculation of the new base period index January CPI rose 0.2% month-on-month, year-on-year growth rate fell from 0.8% to 0.2% In January 2026, the national consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2% year-on-year. Among them, urban areas rose 0.2%, and rural areas rose 0.1%; food prices fell 0.7%, and non-food prices rose 0.4%; consumer goods prices rose 0.3%, and service prices rose 0.1%. In January, the national consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2% month-on-month. Among them, urban areas rose 0.2%, and rural areas rose 0.2%; food prices remained flat, and non-food prices rose 0.2%; consumer goods prices rose 0.2%, and service prices rose 0.2%. I. Year-on-year price changes of various goods and services In January, the prices of food, tobacco, alcohol, and dining out fell 0.2% year-on-year, affecting the CPI (Consumer Price Index) decrease by about 0.06 percentage points. Among food, egg prices fell 9.2%, affecting the CPI decrease by about 0.05 percentage points; meat prices fell 6.1%, affecting the CPI decrease by about 0.26 percentage points, of which pork prices fell 13.7%, affecting the CPI decrease by about 0.28 percentage points; fresh vegetable prices rose 6.9%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.12 percentage points; fresh fruit prices rose 3.2%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.06 percentage points; aquatic product prices rose 0.7%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.01 percentage points. Among the other seven categories, four rose, one remained flat, and two fell year-on-year. Among them, prices of other goods and services, and daily necessities rose by 13.2% and 2.6% respectively, while clothing and healthcare prices rose by 1.9% and 1.7% respectively; education, culture, and entertainment prices remained flat; transportation and communication, and housing prices fell by 3.4% and 0.1% respectively. II. Month-on-month price changes of various goods and services In January, the prices of food, tobacco, alcohol, and dining out remained flat month-on-month. Among food, egg prices rose 2.7%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.01 percentage points; fresh fruit prices rose 2.0%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.04 percentage points; aquatic product prices rose 2.0%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.04 percentage points; meat prices rose 0.5%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.02 percentage points, of which pork prices rose 1.2%, affecting the CPI increase by about 0.02 percentage points; fresh vegetable prices fell 4.8%, affecting the CPI decrease by about 0.10 percentage points. Among the other seven categories, five rose, one remained flat, and one fell month-on-month. Among them, prices of other goods and services, and daily necessities rose by 2.7% and 0.9% respectively, while education, culture, and entertainment, and healthcare prices both rose by 0.3%, and transportation and communication prices rose by 0.1%; housing prices remained flat; clothing prices fell by 0.2% January PPI rose 0.4% month-on-month, increasing for four consecutive months, with year-on-year decline narrowing to 1.4% In January 2026, the national industrial producer price decreased by 1.4% year-on-year, a decrease of 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous month; it rose 0.4% month-on-month, an increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous month. The industrial producer purchase price decreased by 1.4% year-on-year, a decrease of 0.7 percentage points compared to the previous month; it rose 0.5% month-on-month, an increase of 0.1 percentage points compared to the previous month. I. Year-on-year changes in industrial producer prices In January, among the industrial producer ex-factory prices, the price of production materials decreased by 1.3%, affecting the overall level of industrial producer ex-factory prices by about 1.06 percentage points. Among them, the price in the mining industry decreased by 8.1%, the price of raw materials decreased by 2.0%, and the price in the processing industry decreased by 0.4%. The price of living materials decreased by 1.7%, affecting the overall level of industrial producer ex-factory prices by about 0.38 percentage points. Among them, food prices decreased by 1.9%, clothing prices decreased by 0.7%, and prices of general daily necessities and durable consumer goods both decreased by 1.8%. Among the industrial producer purchase prices, fuel and power prices decreased by 7.1%, chemical raw material prices decreased by 5.8%, construction materials and non-metallic prices decreased by 4.7%, black metal materials and agricultural products prices both decreased by 2.9%, and textile raw material prices decreased by 2.2%; prices of non-ferrous metal materials and wires increased by 16.1%. II. Month-on-month changes in industrial producer prices In January, among the industrial producer ex-factory prices, the price of production materials rose by 0.5%, affecting the overall level of industrial producer ex-factory prices by about 0.37 percentage points. Among them, the price in the mining industry decreased by 1.7%, the price of raw materials rose by 0.7%, and the price in the processing industry rose by 0.5%. The price of living materials rose by 0.1%, affecting the overall level of industrial producer ex-factory prices by about 0.01 percentage points. Among them, food prices decreased by 0.1%, clothing prices decreased by 0.3%, general daily necessities prices decreased by 0.1%, and durable consumer goods prices rose by 0.3% In the producer price index, the prices of non-ferrous metal materials and wires increased by 4.5%, agricultural and sideline products increased by 0.7%, and chemical raw materials increased by 0.1%; fuel and power prices decreased by 0.7%, and building materials and non-metallic prices decreased by 0.6%; the prices of ferrous metal materials and textile raw materials remained unchanged.