On May 11, the National Bureau of Statistics of China released data showing that in April 2026, the national Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 1.2% year-on-year, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the previous month, with the month-on-month figure turning from a decline to a rise. The moderate recovery of the CPI was primarily driven by the dual impact of surging energy prices and an explosion in travel demand during holidays.
Fluctuations in international crude oil prices led to a 19.3% year-on-year increase in domestic gasoline prices, becoming the core factor pushing up industrial consumer goods prices. Simultaneously, influenced by the overlapping effects of the Qingming and "May Day" holidays, prices for travel services—such as air tickets and accommodation—rose significantly, with service prices continuing to increase their contribution to the CPI. Although food prices, such as fresh vegetables and pork, fell by 1.6% year-on-year due to sufficient supply, the overall price level showed a steady recovery supported by a 1.2% year-on-year increase in core CPI.
Industrial data presented an even stronger expansion signal. In April, the Producer Price Index (PPI) rose by 2.8% year-on-year, a significant widening of 2.3 percentage points from the previous month, and rose by 1.7% month-on-month. This surge in the PPI was the result of multiple overlapping factors: first, imported cost pressures, as rising international oil prices directly led to double-digit month-on-month spikes in the oil and natural gas extraction and fuel processing industries. Second, strong demand from domestic emerging industries—particularly the rapid growth in computing power demand—caused optical fiber manufacturing prices to soar by 22.5% month-on-month, with external storage device prices also trending upward. Furthermore, with the advancement of domestic equipment renewal policies, demand for steel and non-ferrous metals recovered, and prices in the non-ferrous metal smelting industry rose by more than 20% year-on-year, becoming a primary force driving the PPI.
Notably, the optimization of market competition order is yielding positive results. Following the deep rectification of "involuted" competition, the price decline in new energy vehicle manufacturing—which had long been overshadowed by price wars—narrowed significantly, while lithium-ion battery manufacturing prices achieved a 1.6% month-on-month rebound. This indicates that the manufacturing sector is gradually emerging from the quagmire of vicious price competition and shifting toward demand-driven healthy growth. Overall, the April data reflects that during the opening phase of the "15th Five-Year Plan," the Chinese economy demonstrated resilience on the consumption side and established new growth pivots in the industrial sector through computing infrastructure and green transformation, although imported pressures from international commodity fluctuations warrant continued attention.