Data for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) for May 2026 was released today.
The overall operation of the consumer market was stable in May. The CPI fell by 0.1% month-on-month and rose by 1.2% year-on-year. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, increased by 1.1% year-on-year.
Influenced by increased demand in some domestic sectors and the transmission of international commodity price fluctuations, the PPI rose by 0.5% month-on-month and by 3.9% year-on-year.
CPI Stability in Focus
Nationally, the CPI decreased by 0.1% month-on-month, compared to a 0.3% increase the previous month, primarily due to changes in energy and service prices.
Transmission from international oil prices led domestic gasoline prices to fall by 0.3% after rising by 12.6% the previous month. This caused energy prices to drop by 0.1% after a 5.7% rise, shifting their impact on the month-on-month CPI from an upward pull of 0.39 percentage points last month to a downward pull of 0.01 percentage points this month.
Following a seasonal decline in travel after the May Day holiday, service prices fell by 0.1% after rising by 0.5% the previous month. Their impact on the month-on-month CPI shifted from an upward pull of 0.22 percentage points to a downward pull of 0.03 percentage points.
Within this category, prices for vehicle rentals and air tickets fell by 6.8% and 6.3% respectively, after rising by 8.6% and 29.2% last month, together dragging down the month-on-month CPI by approximately 0.04 percentage points.
The launch of new summer clothing collections drove apparel prices up by 0.6%. Strong AI-related demand pushed up prices for mobile phones and tablets by 1.6% and 1.1%, respectively. These three items together contributed to a month-on-month CPI increase of about 0.05 percentage points.
Food prices fell by 0.4%, with the rate of decline narrowing by 1.2 percentage points from the previous month, dragging down the month-on-month CPI by about 0.07 percentage points.
Among food items, a large seasonal supply of fresh vegetables led to a 3.6% price drop, pulling down the month-on-month CPI by about 0.06 percentage points. Ample pork supply caused prices to fall by 1.6%, with the rate of decline narrowing by 4.1 percentage points from the previous month, dragging down the month-on-month CPI by about 0.03 percentage points.
Factors including a temporary supply shortage, reduced egg production rates due to summer heat, and concentrated pre-holiday purchasing for the Dragon Boat Festival pushed egg prices up by 6.1%, contributing to a month-on-month CPI increase of about 0.03 percentage points.
Year-on-year, the national CPI rose by 1.2%, with the rate of increase unchanged from the previous month.
Prices for industrial consumer goods rose by 3.9%, accelerating by 0.4 percentage points from last month and contributing about 1.18 percentage points to the year-on-year CPI increase.
Within this category, due to a low comparison base from the same period last year, gasoline price increases continued to accelerate to 23.5%, contributing about 0.66 percentage points to the year-on-year CPI rise. The increase in gold jewelry prices continued to moderate to 39.0%, contributing about 0.17 percentage points. Prices for household appliances and apparel rose by 3.4% and 1.5% respectively, together contributing about 0.12 percentage points.
Service prices rose by 0.8%, with the rate of increase slowing by 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, contributing about 0.40 percentage points to the year-on-year CPI rise. Among services, travel service prices increased by 2.8%, with the rate of increase slowing by 0.9 percentage points, while 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, dragging down the year-on-year CPI by about 0.30 percentage points.
Within food, pork prices fell by 16.1%, with the rate of decline widening by 0.9 percentage points, dragging down the year-on-year CPI by about 0.31 percentage points. Fresh fruit prices fell by 2.2%, dragging down the year-on-year CPI by about 0.04 percentage points.
Prices for eggs, mutton, beef, poultry, aquatic products, and fresh vegetables all rose, with increases ranging from 0.6% to 8.4%, together contributing about 0.13 percentage points to the year-on-year CPI increase.
PPI Maintains Upward Trajectory
Nationally, the PPI rose by 0.5% month-on-month, with the rate of increase decelerating by 1.2 percentage points from the previous month.
The main characteristics of the month-on-month PPI movement this month were as follows. First, industrial structural optimization and upgrading drove price increases in some sectors. Continued progress in manufacturing equipment renewal pushed up prices in the smelting and processing of ferrous metals by 1.2%.
Accelerated electrification, deep integration of artificial intelligence across various fields, and growing computing power demand drove up prices in non-ferrous metals, electrical machinery, and computer-related industries. Prices for the smelting and processing of non-ferrous metals rose by 1.1%, with prices for tin smelting and copper smelting rising by 4.8% and 3.1% respectively.
Prices for the manufacturing of computers, communication, and other electronic equipment rose 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 manufacturing of electrical machinery and equipment rose by 0.5%, with prices for optical fiber manufacturing and wire and cable manufacturing rising by 8.0% and 1.2% respectively.
Second, increased seasonal demand drove up prices in some sectors. Demand for coal stockpiling for the summer peak and for non-power use increased, pushing up prices in coal mining and washing by 3.2%.
As temperatures gradually rose in May, prices for the manufacturing of household air conditioners and household refrigeration appliances rose by 0.9% and 0.3% respectively, while the price of electricity supply 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 decelerate.
The price for petroleum extraction shifted from a 24.1% increase last month to a 1.8% decrease this month. The price for refined petroleum product manufacturing shifted from a 19.0% increase to a 0.3% decrease.
Prices for the manufacturing 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 decelerating by 6.3, 4.1, and 0.2 percentage points from the previous month.
Year-on-year, 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 non-ferrous metal ores rose by 36.5% year-on-year, smelting and processing of non-ferrous metals rose by 24.0%, coal mining and washing rose by 10.0%, manufacturing of electrical machinery and equipment rose by 4.5%, manufacturing of computers, communication, and other electronic equipment rose by 2.1%, and smelting and processing of ferrous metals rose by 1.0%.
These six industries together contributed about 2.56 percentage points to the year-on-year PPI increase, with their upward pull increasing by 0.51 percentage points from the previous month.
Extraction of petroleum and natural gas, processing of petroleum, coal and other fuels, and manufacturing of raw chemical materials and chemical products rose by 35.7%, 18.4%, and 12.7% respectively, together contributing about 1.96 percentage points to the year-on-year PPI increase, with their upward pull increasing by 0.46 percentage points from the previous month.
Among industries with price declines, manufacturing of non-metallic mineral products fell by 5.1%, production and supply of electric power and heat power fell by 4.4%, manufacturing of automobiles fell by 2.0%, and processing of agricultural and sideline food products fell by 1.4%.
These four industries together dragged down the year-on-year PPI by about 0.75 percentage points, with their downward pull increasing by 0.01 percentage points from the previous month.
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