National Bureau of Statistics interprets: Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose year-on-year in January, while the Producer Price Index (PPI) narrowed its year-on-year decline.

On February 11th, Dong Lijuan, chief statistician of the Urban Division of the National Bureau of Statistics, interpreted the CPI and PPI data for January 2026. In January, resident consumption demand continued to recover, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rising by 0.2% month-on-month and 0.2% year-on-year, while the core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, increased by 0.8% year-on-year. Influenced by factors such as the continued advancement of the national unified large market construction, increased demand in some industries, and the transmission of international bulk commodity prices, the Producer Price Index (PPI) rose by 0.4% month-on-month, but decreased by 1.4% year-on-year. The full text is as follows: January 2026 CPI year-on-year increase, PPI year-on-year decline narrows - Dong Lijuan, chief statistician of the Urban Division of the National Bureau of Statistics, interprets the CPI and PPI data for January 2026 In January, resident consumption demand continued to recover, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rising by 0.2% month-on-month and 0.2% year-on-year, while the core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, increased by 0.8% year-on-year. Influenced by factors such as the continued advancement of the national unified large market construction, increased demand in some industries, and the transmission of international bulk commodity prices, the Producer Price Index (PPI) rose by 0.4% month-on-month, but decreased by 1.4% year-on-year. I. The decline in the year-on-year increase in CPI is mainly due to the impact of the lunar new year, while core CPI remains steady. The year-on-year increase in CPI has declined for two main reasons: the impact of the lunar new year. January of the previous year was the lunar new year month, with prices of food and some services rising significantly, resulting in a higher base for comparison with the previous year, leading to a larger decline in the year-on-year increase this month. In terms of categories, food prices decreased by 0.7%, affecting a decrease of about 0.11 percentage points in the CPI year-on-year, while the impact on the CPI last month was an increase of about 0.21 percentage points. In terms of food, vegetable prices rose by 6.9%, a decrease of 11.3 percentage points from the previous month, with a decreased impact on the year-on-year increase in the CPI of about 0.27 percentage points; fruit prices rose by 3.2%, a decrease of 1.2 percentage points from the previous month; pork and egg prices fell by 13.7% and 10.6% respectively. Service prices increased by 0.1%, impacting an increase of about 0.05 percentage points in the CPI year-on-year, a decrease of about 0.20 percentage points compared to the previous month. Among services, airline tickets, travel agency fees, and household services prices decreased by 14.3%, 7.7%, and 3.5% respectively, contributing to a decrease of about 0.16 percentage points in the CPI year-on-year, while their contribution to the CPI year-on-year increase last month was about 0.04 percentage points. Secondly, the decrease in energy prices was due to the international oil price changes. Energy prices declined by 5.0% in January, impacting a decrease of about 0.34 percentage points in the CPI year-on-year, an increase of about 0.06 percentage points compared to the previous month, with gasoline prices dropping by 11.4% year-on-year, a widening of 3.0 percentage points from the previous month. Resident consumption demand continues to recover, and the trend of moderate increases in core CPI remains unchanged. Firstly, core CPI continues to rise on a monthly basis. The core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, rose by 0.3% month-on-month, the highest in nearly six months. Among them, airline tickets and travel agency charges rose by 5.7% and 2.0% month-on-month respectively; household services, hairdressing, cinema and theater ticket prices rose by between 0.4% and 2.8%; data storage equipment and computer prices rose by 8.0% and 2.6% respectively; household appliances, household daily necessities, and personal care products prices rose by between 0.7% and 1.4%. Secondly, the year-on-year increase in industrial consumer goods prices, excluding energy, continues to widen. The year-on-year increase in industrial consumer goods prices, excluding energy, was 2.6%, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. Among them, gold jewelry prices rose by 77.4% year-on-year; household appliances, household daily necessities, and clothing prices rose by between 2.1% and 6.6%. Pre-holiday important livelihood products are sufficient in quantity and stable in price. Food prices remained stable, with vegetable prices falling by 4.8%, grains and edible oil prices falling by 0.1% and 0.2% respectively, pork and poultry prices rising by 1.2% and 0.2% respectively, and aquatic products and fresh fruit prices rising by 2.0%. II. PPI continues to rise on a monthly basis, while the year-on-year decline narrows PPI rose by 0.4% month-on-month, marking the fourth consecutive month of increase, with the increase expanding by 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous month. The main features of PPI in operation this month are: firstly, the continued advancement of the national unified large market construction driving price increases in some industries. Cement manufacturing and lithium-ion battery manufacturing prices both rose by 0.1% month-on-month, marking the fourth consecutive month of increase; prices for photovoltaic equipment and components manufacturing changed from a 0.2% decrease last month to a 1.9% increase, basic chemical materials manufacturing prices changed from a 0.1% decrease to a 0.7% increase, and prices for black metal smelting and rolling processing industries changed from a 0.1% decrease to a 0.2% increase. Secondly, increased demand drove price increases in related industries. The accelerated development of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, and the increase in computing demand, drove prices in the computer, communications, and other electronic equipment manufacturing sector to rise by 0.5% month-on-month, with prices for electronic semiconductor materials and external storage devices and components rising by 5.9% and 4.0% respectively; increased demand for gifts and food ahead of the lunar new year drove prices in arts and crafts and ceremonial goods manufacturing, and agricultural and sideline product processing industries to rise by 4.1% and 0.3% respectively; increased demand for winter warmth drove prices for winter clothing and down processing to rise by 0.9% and 0.8% respectively. Thirdly, divergent trends in prices in the domestic non-ferrous metal and petroleum-related industries due to input factors. Rising international non-ferrous metal prices drove prices in the domestic non-ferrous metal ore mining and non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industries to rise by 5.7% and 5.2% month-on-month, with silver smelting, copper smelting, gold refining, and aluminum smelting prices rising by 38.2%, 8.4%, 4.8%, and 2.3% respectively. Fluctuations in international crude oil prices affected domestic petroleum extraction, refined petroleum product manufacturing prices, leading to decreases of 3.1% and 2.5% respectively. PPI decreased by 1.4% year-on-year, with the decline narrowing by 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous month. Looking at individual industries, prices in the non-ferrous metal ore mining and non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industries rose by 22.7% and 21.2% year-on-year, while prices in the arts, education, culture, sports, and entertainment goods manufacturing industry rose by 17.1% and in the electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing industry rose by 0.8%. The continued effectiveness of capacity control in key industries has led to improvements in supply and demand structures in some industries, with prices in the non-metallic mineral products industry falling by 5.4%, black metal smelting and rolling processing industries falling by 3.7%, and computer, communications, and other electronic equipment manufacturing industries falling by 1.6%, all with narrower declines compared to the previous month. Prices in energy-related industries continued to decrease, with prices in the petroleum and natural gas extraction industry falling by 16.7%, petroleum, coal, and other fuel processing industry falling by 11.5%, coal mining and washing industry falling by 9.8%, and electricity, heat production, and supply industry prices falling by 2.3%. This article is adapted from the "National Bureau of Statistics Website"; GMTEight Editor: Chen Xiaoyi.