China's consumer prices rebound amid pro-consumption policies

BEIJING - China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 0.1 percent year-on-year in June, reversing a 0.1 percent decline registered in the previous month, as the nation's measures aimed at expanding domestic demand and the recovery of industrial consumer goods prices supported price rises.

The CPI in urban regions rose 0.1 percent year-on-year last month, while that in the rural regions was down 0.2 percent, according to the data released Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

"The 0.1 percent year-on-year rise in CPI in June also snapped the index's decline trend for four straight months," said NBS statistician Dong Lijuan.

Dong attributed the price upturn mainly to the recovery in the prices of industrial consumer goods, which saw their price decline continue to narrow in June, resulting in reduced downward pressure for the CPI.

For instance, the oil price recovery last month reduced the downward pressure of energy prices on the CPI. The oil price recovery alone saw its drag impact on the CPI further reduced by 0.08 percentage points in June compared to the previous month, the data showed.

"The effects of government policies to boost consumption have continued to show," Dong said, citing the price increases of durable cultural and entertainment consumer goods and household appliances, which saw their prices rise by 2 percent and 1 percent year-on-year, respectively, in June.

The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, climbed 0.7 percent year-on-year in June, up 0.1 percentage points compared to the rise registered in May, according to the NBS. "The core CPI also marked its highest level in 14 months," Dong said.

A breakdown of the CPI data showed that food prices in the world's second-largest economy declined 0.3 percent year-on-year last month, non-food prices rose 0.1 percent, consumer goods prices dropped 0.2 percent, while service prices rose 0.5 percent.

In the first half of 2025, the country's CPI declined by 0.1 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the NBS.

On a monthly basis, the CPI decreased by 0.1 percent in June, according to the data. However, Dong said that the decline narrowed by 0.1 percentage points compared to that in May.

Wednesday's data also showed that China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went down 3.6 percent year-on-year in June. The decline widened by 0.3 percentage points compared to the PPI data in May.

Dong attributed the decline in the PPI to seasonal drops in prices across certain domestic raw material manufacturing industries, lower energy prices driven by increased solar, wind and hydropower generation, and price pressures faced by some export-led sectors.

On a month-on-month basis, the PPI dropped 0.4 percent in June. In the first half of 2025, the PPI decreased by 2.8 percent year-on-year, according to the data.