Data for February 2026 shows China's Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 1.0% month-on-month and 1.3% year-on-year, influenced by the Spring Festival holiday. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 1.8% compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the national Producer Price Index (PPI) increased 0.4% month-on-month but declined 0.9% year-on-year, with the rate of decrease narrowing for a consecutive period. This movement was driven by rising international commodity prices, rapidly growing demand in certain domestic sectors, and the continued effects of macroeconomic policies.

**I. CPI Growth Accelerates** On a monthly basis, the national CPI growth rate expanded from 0.2% in the previous month to 1.0%, marking the highest level in nearly two years. This was primarily due to concentrated consumption demand release during the extended Spring Festival holiday, leading to significant service price increases that exceeded seasonal norms. Service prices rose 1.1%, contributing approximately 0.54 percentage points to the monthly CPI increase. Key drivers included airfares, vehicle rentals, travel agency fees, and hotel accommodation costs, which increased by 31.1%, 24.7%, 15.8%, and 7.3% respectively. Combined, these four categories accounted for over thirty percent of the total monthly CPI increase. Prices for pet services, vehicle repair and maintenance, and home services rose by 12.0%, 11.6%, and 3.1% respectively, while movie tickets and dining-out prices increased by 9.9% and 1.1%. These five categories together contributed about 0.18 percentage points to the monthly CPI rise. Industrial consumer goods prices increased by 0.4%, with domestic gold jewelry prices rising 6.2% due to higher international gold prices, and gasoline prices increasing 3.1% as geopolitical conflicts affected energy costs. These two items contributed approximately 0.12 percentage points to the monthly CPI increase. Although food prices shifted from being flat last month to an increase of 1.9%, the rise remained below seasonal levels, contributing about 0.33 percentage points to the monthly CPI. Within food categories, increased holiday demand pushed up prices for aquatic products, fresh fruit, and pork by 6.9%, 4.0%, and 4.0% respectively, while prices for mutton, beef, eggs, and poultry rose between 1.6% and 2.2%. Combined, these items contributed around 0.34 percentage points to the monthly CPI increase. Fresh vegetable prices, however, dropped 0.1% due to sufficient market supply.

Year-on-year, the national CPI growth accelerated from 0.2% last month to 1.3%, the highest in nearly three years, influenced by the timing of the Spring Festival and recovering consumer demand. Service prices increased 1.6%, contributing approximately 0.75 percentage points to the annual CPI rise. Airfares, vehicle rentals, travel agency fees, and hotel accommodation costs turned from declines last month to increases of 29.1%, 19.8%, 12.5%, and 5.4% respectively. Prices for pet services, vehicle repair and maintenance, home services, and food delivery rose by 13.0%, 12.0%, 6.3%, and 5.6% respectively, while movie ticket prices fell 1.1%. Housing rental prices decreased 0.6% due to the off-season. Industrial consumer goods prices rose 1.1%, with gold jewelry prices surging 76.6%, though the rate of increase moderated slightly. Prices for household appliances, daily necessities, and clothing increased by 5.3%, 2.6%, and 2.0% respectively, while gasoline prices fell 9.8% and car prices declined 1.2%. Food prices shifted from a 0.7% decline last month to a 1.7% increase, contributing about 0.30 percentage points to the annual CPI. Prices for fresh vegetables, beef, mutton, and fresh fruit rose between 5.9% and 10.9%, with the increases widening from the previous month and collectively contributing approximately 0.41 percentage points to the annual CPI. Pork and egg prices fell 8.6% and 3.0% respectively, but the declines narrowed compared to last month, together pulling down the annual CPI by about 0.18 percentage points.

**II. PPI Rises Month-on-Month, Year-on-Year Decline Continues to Moderate** Month-on-month, the national PPI increased 0.4%, maintaining the same growth rate as the previous month and marking the fifth consecutive monthly rise. Key characteristics of the monthly PPI movement included: Firstly, rising international non-ferrous metal and crude oil prices drove up prices in related domestic industries. Prices in non-ferrous metal mining and processing, as well as non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling, increased by 7.1% and 4.6% respectively, with silver, gold, aluminum, and copper smelting prices rising by 16.9%, 8.4%, 4.2%, and 3.7%. Prices in petroleum and natural gas extraction, refined petroleum product manufacturing, and organic chemical raw material manufacturing increased by 5.1%, 0.7%, and 1.3% respectively. Influenced by cost-push factors, prices in the electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing sector rose 1.2%, with wire and cable manufacturing prices increasing 2.3%. Secondly, growing computing power boosted demand and prices in certain sectors. Prices in computer, communication, and other electronic equipment manufacturing increased 0.6% monthly, with electronic semiconductor materials, external storage devices and components, and integrated circuit packaging and testing series prices rising 2.8%, 1.2%, and 1.1% respectively.

Year-on-year, the national PPI declined 0.9%, with the rate of decrease narrowing by 0.5 percentage points from the previous month, marking the third consecutive month of moderating decline. The integrated effects of domestic macroeconomic policies continued to show, with positive price changes observed in some industries. Firstly, accelerated development of the modern industrial system led to year-on-year price increases in related sectors. With the vigorous development of "AI+", prices for electronic components and specialized electronic materials manufacturing rose 4.9%, control micro-motor prices increased 1.6%, and service consumer robot manufacturing prices edged up 0.7%. Advancing green transformation pushed prices for biomass fuel processing up 3.2% and environmental protection equipment manufacturing prices up 0.6%. Strong growth in high-end equipment saw aircraft manufacturing prices increase 7.7%, ship and related equipment manufacturing prices rise 0.5%, and additive manufacturing equipment prices go up 0.3%. Secondly, ongoing optimization of market competition秩序 led to stabilizing and recovering prices in some industries year-on-year. Continued effects of capacity governance in key sectors and comprehensive rectification of "internal卷式" competition were evident. Prices for photovoltaic equipment and components manufacturing rose 3.2%, with the increase widening by 2.7 percentage points from the previous month. Lithium-ion battery manufacturing prices turned from a 1.1% decline last month to a 0.2% increase, marking the first year-on-year rise after 33 consecutive months of decline. The rates of decline for coal mining and washing, cement manufacturing, new energy vehicle manufacturing, and ferrous metal smelting and rolling industries narrowed by 2.8, 1.5, 0.5, and 0.3 percentage points respectively compared to last month.