China's December CPI year-on-year 0.8%, previous value 0.7%

China's December CPI year-on-year is 0.8%, previous value 0.7%. China's December PPI year-on-year is -1.9%, previous value -2.2%.

Dong Lijuan, Chief Statistician of the Urban Division of the National Bureau of Statistics, interprets the CPI and PPI data for December 2025:

In December, the policies to expand domestic demand and promote consumption continued to take effect, coupled with the approaching New Year, leading to an increase in residents' consumption demand. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.2% month-on-month and 0.8% year-on-year, while the core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, rose by 1.2% year-on-year. Influenced by the transmission of international commodity prices and the continued effectiveness of domestic key industry capacity management policies, the Producer Price Index (PPI) rose by 0.2% month-on-month and fell by 1.9% year-on-year.

1. CPI turned from decline to increase month-on-month, and the year-on-year increase continued to expand, with core CPI rising by 1.2%

The CPI turned from a decrease of 0.1% last month to an increase of 0.2% this month, mainly influenced by the rise in prices of industrial consumer goods excluding energy. The prices of industrial consumer goods excluding energy rose by 0.6%, contributing approximately 0.16 percentage points to the month-on-month increase in CPI. Among them, the effects of consumption-boosting policies continued to show, and with the New Year approaching, residents' shopping and entertainment demand increased, leading to price increases in communication tools, maternal and infant products, durable consumer goods for entertainment, and household appliances, with increases ranging from 1.4% to 3.0%; influenced by the rise in international gold prices, domestic gold jewelry prices rose by 5.6%. Energy prices fell by 0.5%, with domestic gasoline prices decreasing by 1.2% due to changes in international oil prices, contributing approximately 0.04 percentage points to the month-on-month decrease in CPI. Food prices rose by 0.3%, contributing approximately 0.05 percentage points to the month-on-month increase in CPI. Among them, pre-holiday consumption demand increased, with prices of fresh fruits and shrimp and crab rising by 2.6% and 2.5%, respectively; weather conditions were relatively good, with fresh vegetable prices rising by 0.8%, which is 3.3 percentage points lower than the seasonal level; the supply of live pigs was relatively sufficient, and pork prices fell by 1.7%.

The CPI rose by 0.8% year-on-year, an increase of 0.1 percentage points compared to last month, returning to the highest level since March 2023. The year-on-year increase was mainly driven by the expansion of food price increases. Food prices rose by 1.1%, an increase of 0.9 percentage points compared to last month, contributing approximately 0.17 percentage points more to the year-on-year CPI increase than last month. Among food items, the price increases for fresh vegetables and fresh fruits expanded to 18.2% and 4.4%, respectively, contributing approximately 0.16 percentage points more to the year-on-year CPI increase than last month; prices for beef, lamb, and aquatic products rose by 6.9%, 4.4%, and 1.6%, respectively, with all increases expanding; pork prices fell by 14.6%, with the decline slightly narrowing. Energy prices fell by 3.8%, with the decline expanding by 0.4 percentage points compared to last month, and the decline in gasoline prices expanded to 8.4%. The core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, rose by 1.2% year-on-year, maintaining an increase of over 1% for four consecutive months. Service prices rose by 0.6%, contributing approximately 0.25 percentage points to the year-on-year CPI increase. Among them, household service prices rose by 1.2%; rental prices fell by 0.3%. Industrial consumer goods prices excluding energy rose by 2.5%, contributing approximately 0.63 percentage points to the year-on-year CPI increase Among them, the price increase of gold jewelry continued to expand to 68.5%; the price increases of household appliances and daily necessities expanded to 5.9% and 3.2%, respectively; the price declines of fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles narrowed to 2.4% and 2.2%, respectively.

II. PPI month-on-month increase expands, year-on-year decline narrows

The PPI increased by 0.2% month-on-month, rising for three consecutive months, with an increase of 0.1 percentage points compared to last month. The main characteristics of this month's PPI month-on-month operation are: first, the improvement of supply and demand structure has driven price increases in some industries. The comprehensive rectification of capacity governance and market competition order in key industries continues to show results, with coal mining and washing industry and coal processing prices rising by 1.3% and 0.8% month-on-month, respectively, both rising for five consecutive months; lithium-ion battery manufacturing prices rose by 1.0%, and cement manufacturing prices rose by 0.5%, both rising for three consecutive months; the price of complete manufacturing of new energy vehicles changed from a decrease of 0.2% last month to an increase of 0.1%. Seasonal increases in demand drove prices in the gas production and supply industry and the electricity and heat production and supply industry to rise by 1.2% and 1.0%, respectively, while prices in down jacket processing and wool textile dyeing and finishing rose by 1.2% and 1.0%, respectively. Second, external factors have caused a divergence in the price trends of domestic non-ferrous metals and petroleum-related industries. The rise in international non-ferrous metal prices has driven domestic non-ferrous metal mining and selection industry and non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling industry prices to rise by 3.7% and 2.8% month-on-month, respectively, with silver smelting, gold smelting, copper smelting, and aluminum smelting prices rising by 13.5%, 4.8%, 4.6%, and 0.9%, respectively. The decline in international crude oil prices has affected domestic oil extraction and refined petroleum product manufacturing prices, which fell by 2.3% and 0.9%, respectively.

The PPI decreased by 1.9% year-on-year, with the decline narrowing by 0.3 percentage points compared to last month. The continuous effectiveness of various domestic macro policies has led to positive changes in prices in some industries. First, the construction of a unified national market is advancing deeply, and the year-on-year decline in prices in related industries continues to narrow. The market competition order is continuously optimized, with the year-on-year price declines in coal mining and washing industry, lithium-ion battery manufacturing, and photovoltaic equipment and components manufacturing narrowing by 2.9, 1.2, and 0.4 percentage points, respectively, having narrowed for five months, four months, and nine months consecutively. Second, the cultivation and growth of new productive forces have driven year-on-year price increases in related industries. The digital economy-related industries are developing vigorously, with rapid growth in the production of new raw materials and new materials, and the green transformation continues to empower development, with prices of external storage devices and components rising by 15.3%, biomass liquid fuel prices rising by 9.0%, graphite and carbon product manufacturing prices rising by 5.5%, integrated circuit finished product prices rising by 2.4%, prices in the waste resource comprehensive utilization industry rising by 0.9%, and prices in service consumption robot manufacturing rising by 0.4%. Third, effective release of consumption potential has driven year-on-year price increases in related industries. The special actions to boost consumption are being implemented in depth, with rapid growth in cultural, sports, and quality consumption, with prices in arts and crafts and ceremonial supplies manufacturing rising by 23.3%, prices in sports ball manufacturing rising by 4.0%, prices in musical instrument manufacturing rising by 2.0%, and prices in nutritional food manufacturing rising by 1.5%