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China CPI Rises 0.9% in September as PPI Jumps 5%, Most Since 2022

China's consumer prices rose 0.9% from a year earlier in September while factory-gate prices jumped 5.0%, the fastest pace since June 2022.

By Global Terminal Staff · · 3 min read

Customers at a fruit shop in China with a scooter parked in front
Photo: Jun Weng / Unsplash

Why it matters

  • China's consumer price index rose 0.9% from a year earlier in September, up from 0.8% in August but below the 1% economists expected, Trading Economics reported from National Bureau of Statistics data. Prices rose 0.2% from August.
  • Producer prices jumped 5.0% from a year earlier, up from 3.8% in August and the fastest since June 2022, as higher fuel costs fed through. Mining prices rose 25.4%.
  • Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, held at 1.0%. Mainland stocks fell Wednesday, with the CSI 300 down 1.36%, and China's third-quarter GDP is due Monday, Oct. 19.

Analysis: this piece includes our interpretation of the facts reported.

China's consumer prices rose 0.9% in September from a year earlier, and factory-gate prices jumped 5.0%, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday, Oct. 14, according to Trading Economics. The producer price reading was the strongest since June 2022, while consumer inflation edged up from 0.8% in August.

What did China's September inflation data show?

Factory prices rose much faster than expected, while consumer prices rose a little less. Economists had expected 1% for the consumer price index, or CPI, and 4.5% for the producer price index, or PPI, Trading Economics said.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.2%, slower than August's 0.4%. Core inflation, which strips out food and energy, held at 1.0% from a year earlier. Food prices fell 1.7%, a sixth straight monthly decline, as pork prices dropped again. Non-food prices rose 1.5%, led by a 4.3% rise in transport costs on higher gasoline prices and travel ahead of the Golden Week holiday.

How has China's inflation trended this year?

Consumer inflation has stayed near 1% since June, while producer prices have climbed. The table uses the statistics bureau's monthly releases for June through August and Trading Economics' report of the bureau's September data.

Month (2026)CPI y/yCPI m/mCore CPI y/yPPI y/yPPI m/m
June1.0%-0.3%1.0%4.1%-0.3%
July0.5%-0.1%0.9%3.5%-0.7%
August0.8%0.4%1.0%3.8%0.4%
September0.9%0.2%1.0%5.0%1.2%

The gap between producer and consumer inflation widened to 4.1 percentage points in September, from 3.0 points in August. That means higher costs for raw materials have so far not passed through to shoppers.

Why are China's factory prices rising?

Fuel and raw materials drove the jump. Prices of production materials rose 6.5% from a year earlier, with mining up 25.4% and raw materials up 9.4%, Trading Economics said. Coal mining prices rose 35.3% and oil and gas extraction 24.5%. Consumer goods prices at the factory gate fell 0.1%. The PPI rose 1.2% from August, its biggest monthly gain since April, and is up 2.3% on average in the first nine months of the year.

How did Chinese markets react?

Mainland stocks fell. The Shanghai Composite closed down 0.89% at 3,767.23 and the CSI 300 fell 1.36% to 4,217.68, Yahoo Finance data show. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.13% to 24,314.17. The onshore yuan traded near 6.686 per dollar, little changed from about 6.692 on Tuesday.

What comes next?

The statistics bureau releases third-quarter GDP, along with September industrial output, retail sales and investment, at 10 a.m. Beijing time on Monday, Oct. 19, according to its 2026 release calendar. October CPI and PPI data are due Nov. 9, according to Trading Economics' calendar. Our global markets week ahead lists the rest of this week's data, and live index levels are on our world markets page. For Asia's chip-stock slide, see our chip stock selloff analysis.

Sources