Link Securities | According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.8% year-on-year in December, up from 0.7% the previous month, its highest rate since February 2023, although slightly below the 0.9% rebound expected by the consensus of analysts. Inflation rose for the third consecutive month, with food prices rising at their fastest year-on-year rate in 14 months (1.1% versus 0.2% in November), driven by higher prices for fresh vegetables and fruit. Meanwhile, non-food price growth remained unchanged at 0.8%, helped by consumer exchange programmes.
Prices continued to rise for clothing (1.7% versus 1.9%; November); health (1.8% versus 1.6%; November); and education (0.9% versus 0.8%; November). Conversely, housing prices fell by 0.2%, after remaining flat the previous month, while transport prices deepened their decline (down 2.6% versus a drop of 2.3%; November).
Core inflation, which excludes unprocessed food and energy prices, remained at 1.2%, its highest level in 20 months.
In monthly terms, the CPI rose by 0.2%, following a 0.1% fall in November.For the whole of 2025, inflation was flat (0.0%), below the official target of 2.0%.
