The first month of 2025 saw a rebound in the consumer price index (CPI) of Guangdong, both month-on-month and year-on-year. According to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics, in January, the core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, of Guangdong increased by 0.5%, in contrast to the 0.2% decrease in December 2024. Meanwhile, the producer price index (PPI) of Guangdong decreased year-on-year.
One of the factors affecting the increase is consumption during the Chinese New Year holiday. In January this year, citizens spent more on food, transport, culture, and tourism. Prices of food saw increases, such as a 6.2% increase in prices of shrimp and crabs, a 1.9% increase in prices of fruits, and a 0.9% increase in prices of fresh vegetables, among others. The supply and demand for grain and oil were stable, with prices increasing by 0.1% and 0.5%, respectively.
The recently ended Chinese New Year holiday is the first one after the festival was announced as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage, and consumption has been widely stimulated in culture, tourism, and businesses. The trade-in policy for consumer goods also facilitated consumption, with a wave of 'trading old products in for new ones' across multiple cities in Guangdong.
The CPI, comparing month-on-month, went from a decrease of 0.1% in December 2024 to an increase of 0.9% in January 2025, during which food prices turned from a decrease of 0.7% in December 2024 to an increase of 0.5% in January 2025, contributing 0.09 percentage points to the overall CPI rise.
Non-food prices increased by 1.0%, which is 0.9 percentage points more than the increase in December 2024, raising the overall CPI by 0.82 percentage points. In the non-food sector, price increases were widely seen in domestic services, hair salons, vehicle repair and maintenance, movie and performance tickets, cosmetology, accommodation, and more.
Transportation and tourism also saw increases. Transportation rents, plane tickets, long-distance bus fares, and travel agency fees experienced increases of 32.5%, 30.7%, 24.3%, and 17.1%, respectively, while prices of diesel and petroleum increased by 2.7% and 2.5%.
For the PPI, comparing month-on-month, the January index decreased by 0.3% compared to that of December 2024. More specifically, the price of means of production decreased by 0.4%, and the price of consumption goods decreased by 0.1%.
During the Chinese New Year holiday, some downstream enterprises stopped production due to a decrease in market demand. For example, due to the decrease in raw material prices such as corn and soybean, the market demand for soybean oil weakened slightly, contributing to an overall1.2%decrease in the PPI of processed foods from agricultural products, and a 0.4%decrease in food manufacturing.
Reporter | Guo Chuhua
Photo | www.cfp.cn
Editor | Hu Nan, James, Shen He
