China food Consumer Price Index (CPI) YOY
China food Consumer Price Index (CPI) YOY stood at -1.5% in Jul 2026, according to National Statistics Office (NSO) of China (NBS). It is one of the indicators in the CPI table (Value · Monthly), with a complete series running from Dec 2021 to Jul 2026. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the CPI table
| Indicator | 07-2026 | 06-2026 | 05-2026 | 04-2026 | 03-2026 | 02-2026 | 01-2026 | 12-2025 | 11-2025 | 10-2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headline CPI (YOY) | 0.5 | 1 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.2 | |
| Food | -1.5 | -1.6 | -1.7 | -1.6 | 0.3 | 1.7 | -0.7 | 1.1 | 0.2 | -2.9 | |
| Non-food | 0.9 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.9 |
Understanding china food Consumer Price Index (CPI) YOY
Surveying price shifts across all items serving dietary needs, including cereals, livestock meat, poultry, fishery, fresh vegetables, fruits, and processed foods in the China market. This is the most volatile component in the consumer basket due to heavy vulnerability to weather, animal disease, and agricultural production cycles. Completely separated from non-food items, this indicator helps accurately identify the origins of short-term price increases or decreases.
The report is published monthly as a comparison with the same period of the previous year. The greatest risk in analyzing this index stems from the cyclical volatility of pork prices—a foodstuff that accounts for an exceptionally large consumption share in citizens' daily meals. Additionally, the non-fixed timing of major holidays according to the Gregorian calendar causes food stockpiling demand to shift between the first two months of the year, making long-term series comparisons consistently provide a more accurate perspective than short-term assessments.
Frequently asked questions
- Which commodity plays a dominant role in food group fluctuations?
- Pork prices and fresh vegetables are the two components that consistently generate the strongest shocks to the entire sector.
- How do livestock and poultry diseases impact this index?
- Sudden supply contractions caused by disease drive meat prices up sharply, pulling the food index higher very rapidly.
- Why is it advisable to separate the food group when analyzing inflation?
- It helps clearly distinguish between price pressures caused by temporary supply shortages and upward price trends stemming from economy-wide purchasing power.