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A shopper walks past a Coach retail store inside a shopping mall in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China on March 24, 2026. <\/p>\n
Cheng Xin | getty images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
China’s consumer and producer inflation jumped more than expected in April as the Middle East conflict pushed up commodity costs. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/strong><\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Data released on Saturday revealed China’s crude oil imports Fell 20% in April in terms of volume<\/a> <\/strong>From a year ago. <\/p>\n However, the country’s overall export growth accelerated last month. increasing 14.1% from a year ago<\/a> and leading monthly trade surplus $84.8 billion<\/a> – Putting the country on track to post a nearly trillion-dollar surplus for the third consecutive year. <\/p>\n