The National Bureau of Statistics has released data for May, indicating that consumer prices remained generally stable while producer prices saw continued increases.
In May, the overall operation of the consumer market was steady. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) saw a month-on-month decrease of 0.1%, while rising 1.2% year-on-year. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, increased by 1.1% compared to the same period last year. Influenced by factors such as increased demand in certain domestic sectors and the transmission of international commodity price fluctuations, the Producer Price Index (PPI) rose by 0.5% month-on-month and 3.9% year-on-year.
Consumer Price Index Remains Largely Unchanged
On a monthly basis, the national CPI fell by 0.1%, shifting from a 0.3% increase in the previous month, primarily influenced by changes in energy and service prices. Due to the pass-through effect of international oil prices, domestic gasoline prices shifted from a 12.6% increase last month to a 0.3% decrease, leading energy prices to move from a 5.7% rise to a 0.1% fall. This change in energy's impact shifted from contributing 0.39 percentage points to the CPI's monthly increase last month to subtracting 0.01 percentage points this month. Following the seasonal decline in travel after the May Day holiday, service prices turned from a 0.5% increase to a 0.1% decrease, with their effect on the monthly CPI changing from adding 0.22 percentage points to subtracting 0.03 percentage points. Specifically, prices for vehicle rentals and air tickets shifted from increases of 8.6% and 29.2% last month to decreases of 6.8% and 6.3% respectively, together contributing to a 0.04 percentage point decline in the monthly CPI. The launch of new summer clothing collections drove apparel prices up by 0.6%, while robust AI-related demand pushed prices for mobile phones and tablets up by 1.6% and 1.1% respectively. These three items together contributed to a 0.05 percentage point increase in the monthly CPI. Food prices fell by 0.4%, with the rate of decline narrowing by 1.2 percentage points from the previous month, contributing to a roughly 0.07 percentage point decrease in the monthly CPI. Within the food category, a large supply of seasonal vegetables led to a 3.6% drop in fresh vegetable prices, contributing to a 0.06 percentage point decrease in the monthly CPI. Ample pork supply led to a 1.6% price decline, with the rate of decrease narrowing by 4.1 percentage points from the previous month, contributing to a 0.03 percentage point decrease in the monthly CPI. Factors including a temporary tight supply, reduced egg-laying rates due to summer heat, and concentrated pre-holiday purchasing ahead of the Dragon Boat Festival led to a 6.1% increase in egg prices, contributing to a 0.03 percentage point rise in the monthly CPI.
On a year-on-year basis, the national CPI rose by 1.2%, with the rate of increase unchanged from the previous month. Within this, prices for industrial consumer goods rose by 3.9%, accelerating by 0.4 percentage points from the previous month, contributing to approximately 1.18 percentage points of the year-on-year CPI increase. Among industrial consumer goods, due to a lower comparison base from the same period last year, the increase in gasoline prices continued to widen to 23.5%, contributing to about 0.66 percentage points of the year-on-year CPI increase. The increase in gold jewelry prices continued to moderate to 39.0%, contributing to about 0.17 percentage points. Prices for household appliances and clothing rose by 3.4% and 1.5% respectively, together contributing to about 0.12 percentage points of the increase. Service prices rose by 0.8%, with the rate of increase slowing by 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, contributing to about 0.40 percentage points of the year-on-year CPI rise. Within services, travel service prices increased by 2.8%, with the rate of increase slowing by 0.9 percentage points; price increases for other services were generally stable. Food prices fell by 1.7%, with the rate of decline widening by 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, contributing to a roughly 0.30 percentage point decrease in the year-on-year CPI. Within food, pork prices fell by 16.1%, with the rate of decline widening by 0.9 percentage points, contributing to about a 0.31 percentage point decrease in the year-on-year CPI. Fresh fruit prices fell by 2.2%, contributing to about a 0.04 percentage point decrease. Prices for eggs, mutton, beef, poultry, aquatic products, and fresh vegetables all increased, with rises ranging from 0.6% to 8.4%, together contributing to about a 0.13 percentage point increase in the year-on-year CPI.
Producer Price Index Maintains Upward Trajectory
On a monthly basis, the national PPI rose by 0.5%, with the rate of increase slowing by 1.2 percentage points from the previous month. Key characteristics of the PPI's monthly performance include: First, industrial structure optimization and upgrading drove price increases in some sectors. The ongoing renewal of manufacturing equipment led to a 1.2% month-on-month increase in prices for the smelting and pressing of ferrous metals. The acceleration of electrification, the deep integration of artificial intelligence across sectors, and growing demand for computing power drove price increases in the nonferrous metals, electrical machinery, and computer-related industries. Prices for the smelting and pressing of nonferrous metals rose by 1.1%, with prices for tin smelting and copper smelting rising by 4.8% and 3.1% respectively. Prices for the manufacture of computers, communication, and other electronic equipment increased by 0.6%, with prices for integrated circuit packaging and testing series, and external storage devices and components rising by 2.9% and 1.9% respectively. Prices for the manufacture of electrical machinery and apparatus rose by 0.5%, with prices for optical fiber manufacturing and wire and cable manufacturing increasing by 8.0% and 1.2% respectively. Second, seasonal demand increases drove price rises in some industries. Preparations for peak summer power demand and increased coal demand for non-power uses led to a 3.2% month-on-month increase in prices for coal mining and washing. As temperatures gradually rose in May, prices for the manufacture of household air conditioners and household refrigeration appliances increased by 0.9% and 0.3% respectively, while power supply prices rose by 0.4%. Third, the transmission of international crude oil price fluctuations caused domestic related industry prices to shift from increase to decrease or see their rate of increase slow. Prices for petroleum extraction shifted from a 24.1% increase last month to a 1.8% decrease month-on-month. Prices for refined petroleum product manufacturing shifted from a 19.0% increase to a 0.3% decrease. Prices for the manufacture of raw chemical materials and chemical products, chemical fibers, and rubber and plastic products rose by 2.0%, 1.5%, and 1.5% respectively, with their rates of increase slowing by 6.3, 4.1, and 0.2 percentage points respectively from the previous month.
On a year-on-year basis, the national PPI rose by 3.9%, with the rate of increase expanding by 1.1 percentage points from the previous month. Looking at specific industries, among those with price increases: mining and processing of nonferrous metal ores rose by 36.5% year-on-year; smelting and pressing of nonferrous metals rose by 24.0%; coal mining and washing rose by 10.0%; manufacture of electrical machinery and apparatus rose by 4.5%; manufacture of computers, communication, and other electronic equipment rose by 2.1%; and smelting and pressing of ferrous metals rose by 1.0%. These six industries together contributed to approximately 2.56 percentage points of the year-on-year PPI increase, with their upward contribution increasing by 0.51 percentage points from the previous month. Extraction of petroleum and natural gas, processing of petroleum, coal, and other fuels, and manufacture of raw chemical materials and chemical products rose by 35.7%, 18.4%, and 12.7% respectively, together contributing to about 1.96 percentage points of the year-on-year PPI increase, with their upward contribution increasing by 0.46 percentage points from the previous month. Among industries with price declines: manufacture of non-metallic mineral products fell by 5.1%; production and supply of electric power and heat power fell by 4.4%; manufacture of automobiles fell by 2.0%; and processing of agricultural and sideline food products fell by 1.4%. These four industries together contributed to approximately a 0.75 percentage point decrease in the year-on-year PPI, with their downward contribution increasing by 0.01 percentage points from the previous month.
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