China's Producer Prices Rise 5.7% While Consumer Inflation Cools
Coal mining prices jumped 36.6% from a year earlier while food fell 2.9%. Beijing also kept its extra 24% tariff on U.S. goods suspended for two more months.
China's factory-gate prices rose 5.7% in October from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said at 9:30 a.m. Beijing time Monday (8:30 p.m. ET Sunday). Consumer inflation went the other way, slowing to 0.7%.
The producer figure beat the 5.3% that economists polled by Reuters expected, CNBC reported, and was the fastest pace since June 2022. It was the third month in a row of faster gains. The bureau said the rate widened 0.7 percentage point from September, which puts September at 5.0%.
What the producer index measures
The producer price index, or PPI, tracks what Chinese factories charge when goods first leave the plant. The bureau surveys prices for more than 1,300 product categories across 41 industries. Read next to consumer prices, it shows where costs are building inside supply chains, from raw materials to finished goods.
Coal and oil did most of the lifting
Mining prices were up 27.9% from a year earlier and raw materials 11.6%, the bureau's PPI release shows. Coal mining rose 36.6%. Oil and gas extraction rose 35.0%. Prices factories paid for their own inputs climbed 7.9%. Chief statistician Dong Lijuan said higher international energy prices drove most of October's 0.7% monthly rise.
Shoppers saw little of it. Food prices fell 2.9% from a year earlier, and core CPI, which strips out food and energy, eased to 0.8% from 1.0%. Economists polled by Reuters had expected headline CPI of 0.8%, CNBC reported.
Beijing keeps the 24% tariff on hold
The same day, China's Customs Tariff Commission said it will keep its extra 24% tariff on U.S. goods suspended for two more months from 1:01 p.m. Tuesday Beijing time, while a 10% extra tariff stays in place, Reuters reported. Mainland China's CSI 300 index rose 0.56% after the inflation data, per CNBC.
Bitcoin was down 1.3% over 24 hours at $74,762 at 11:56 p.m. ET, CoinGecko data show.
In our opinion: the number that matters is the five-point gap. Chinese factories are charging 5.7% more while shoppers pay 0.7% more, and the bureau's own breakdown puts most of the factory jump on coal and oil. The next checks are China's November figures and early January, when the two-month tariff pause runs out.
Sources: National Bureau of Statistics of China: October 2026 PPI release · National Bureau of Statistics of China: October 2026 CPI release · Xinhua: NBS chief statistician Dong Lijuan on October CPI and PPI · CNBC: China wholesale inflation hits highest in more than four years · Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announcement No. 6 of 2026 (Minis · Reuters via Investing.com: China extends suspension of 24% tariff on US imports · CoinGecko: Bitcoin price
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