China's consumer prices up 0.8% in December, unchanged in 2025

Consumer prices in China rose at their fastest annual rate in over two and a half years in December 2025, capping a year in which overall inflation was unchanged, official data showed Friday.

In December, the consumer price index (CPI) edged up 0.2 percent month on month and rose 0.8 percent year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The year-on-year growth accelerated by 0.1 percentage point from November, marking the highest level since March 2023.

Dong Lijuan, chief statistician at the NBS, mainly attributed the accelerated year-on-year CPI growth last month to the increase in food prices, which went up 1.1 percent year on year in December.

Looking ahead, Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank, expects consumer prices to see a recovery this year, as policies to boost domestic demand gradually take effect, the modern industrial system picks up the pace of construction, and measures to manage capacity in key industries and optimize market competition continue, as reported by yicai.com.

Friday's data also showed that China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went down 2.6 percent year on year in 2025.

In December, the PPI dropped 1.9 percent year on year, with the downward trend continuing to narrow.

"Domestic macro policies have continued to yield effects, with positive price changes appearing in some sectors," Dong said, adding that the decline in prices of related industries has continued to narrow amid the advancing development of a unified national market.