China’s producer prices rose 3.9% year-on-year in May 2026, up from a 2.8% increase in April and in line with market expectations. This marked the third consecutive monthly gain and the fastest pace since July 2022, driven largely by surging global commodity and energy prices amid supply disruptions linked to the war in Iran. Beijing’s initiatives to cut excess industrial capacity and rein in intense price competition also supported higher factory-gate prices.
Costs for production materials accelerated (5.2% vs 3.8% in April), propelled by sharper increases in mining (15.8% vs 10.8%), raw materials (9.2% vs 7.1%), and processing (2.3% vs 1.5%). The decline in consumer goods prices moderated (-0.8% vs -1.0%), even as food (-1.8% vs -1.9%), clothing (-1.0% vs -1.1%), and daily-use goods (-1.0% vs -1.1%) continued to fall. Prices of durable consumer goods were flat, compared with a 0.3% rise in April.
Over the first five months of 2026, the Producer Price Index (PPI) increased 1.0%. On a monthly basis, PPI advanced 0.5% in May, slowing from a 1.7% gain in April.
