MNI DATA BRIEF: China PPI Hits 26-Year High, CPI Above Forecast

China's producer price index measuring factory gate prices jumped13.5% y/y in October amid tighter supply of domestic energy and raw materials, accelerating from September's 10.7% gain, hitting the highest level since June 1995 and outshining a forecast of 12.4%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.

The PPI surge was mainly driven by price increases in coal mining and washing which rose by 103.7% y/y, widening 28.8 percentage points. Price hikes in eight industries related to coal, oil, natural gas, ferrous metal, chemical raw material, and non-ferrous metal dragged up the PPI by about 11.38 pp, contributing over 80% of the surge, the NBS said. PPI rose 2.5% m/m, also quickening from 1.2% reported last month, see: MNI REALITY CHECK: China Oct CPI Seen Up On Food, Fuel Costs.

China's October consumer price index quickened to 1.5% y/y from 0.7% in September, the highest since September 2020, above the forecast 1.4%. The acceleration was mainly due to rising food and energy prices led by higher vegetable prices amid rainy weather and rising costs, the NBS said. Core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, was up 1.3% y/y, up 0.1 pp from the previous month.