A shopper walks past a Coach retail store inside a shopping mall in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China on March 24, 2026.
Cheng Xin | getty images
China’s consumer and producer inflation jumped more than expected in April as the Middle East conflict pushed up commodity costs.
Consumer prices rose 1.2% in April from a year earlier, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday, better than the 0.9% rise forecast by economists in a Reuters poll, and faster than a 1% rise in March.
The producer price index jumped 2.8% from a year earlier, exceeding economists’ forecast of 1.6% and a 0.5% jump in the past month. The surge came after factory-gate prices turned positive for the first time in three years, ending the longest deflationary streak in decades.
The price rise has been aided by a surge in global commodity prices as the Iran war, now in its third month, has reduced traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, sending energy markets into a tailspin.
China, the world’s biggest crude importer, has cushioned the worst of the energy shock through its strategic oil reserves and a diverse mix of renewable energy sources – although economists warn the buffer is at limits as disruptions grow.
Data released on Saturday revealed China’s crude oil imports Fell 20% in April in terms of volume From a year ago.
However, the country’s overall export growth accelerated last month. increasing 14.1% from a year ago and leading monthly trade surplus $84.8 billion – Putting the country on track to post a nearly trillion-dollar surplus for the third consecutive year.
The export strength that has increased China’s trade surplus with the US up to $87.7 billion So far this year, next week will be in focus as US President Donald Trump prepares to visit Beijing for the leaders’ summit.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to host Trump this weekend, as the two countries seek to stabilize relations strained by tensions over trade, export controls, Taiwan and the Iran war.
Beijing, which hosted Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi last week, has positioned itself as an active mediator in efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Goldman Sachs economists said, expecting the Middle East conflict to figure prominently at the summit.
