China producer prices surge as consumer inflation stays subdued

China’s producer prices rose 5% year over year in September, the fastest increase since June 2022, while consumer inflation remained modest, underscoring a widening gap between factory costs and household prices. The producer price index accelerated from 3.8% in August, according to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics released Wednesday. The September increase exceeded the 4.5% forecast in a Reuters poll. Another cited forecast was 4.3%, from economists surveyed by Wind. The consumer price index rose 0.9% from a year earlier, up from 0.8% in August but below the 1% forecast cited by Reuters. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, increased 1% year over year, unchanged from August. Consumer prices rose 0.2% from August, after a 0.4% monthly increase the previous month. Gasoline prices climbed 16.6% year over year and contributed about 0.47 percentage points to headline inflation, the statistics agency said. Despite that increase, consumer price growth remained subdued compared with factory-gate inflation. Higher oil and commodity costs have raised manufacturers’ expenses.