France, Germany and Spain saw inflation rises in May amid impact of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, said the three countries' respective statistical authorities on Friday.
France's consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.4 percent year on year in May, up from 2.2 percent in April, according to data released by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) on Friday.
The rise in inflation was driven mainly by a further growth in energy prices, which jumped 16.6 percent in May from a year earlier, up from 14.3 percent in April. INSEE said the surge was largely due to gas prices, which went up 11.3 percent after declining 3.1 percent in the previous month.
Service prices were up 2.1 percent year on year in May, higher than the rise of 1.8 percent in April.
By contrast, food price growth slowed slightly to 1.1 percent from 1.2 percent previously.
Core inflation stood at 1.5 percent year on year in May, up from 1.2 percent in April, INSEE said.
The May inflation rate in Germany stood at 2.6 percent year on year, slowing from 2.9 percent in April, the Federal Statistical Office said on Friday.
The prices of energy products were 6.6 percent higher in May than one year earlier, "primarily due to the price developments on the crude oil market in the wake of" the war in Iran and other parts of the Middle East, said the office, noting that the year-on-year increase in energy prices in May was much lower than the 10.1-percent surge in April.
Germany's service prices went up 3.1 percent year on year in May, food prices were up 0.4 percent, with the core inflation rate (excluding food and energy) reaching 2.5 percent.
Spain's inflation rose 3.2 percent year on year in May, the same as in April, in the midst of the impact of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, said the National Statistics Institute (INE) on Friday.
The country's prices of entertainment, sports and cultural activities rose by 2.6 percent year on year in May, when transportation prices increased by 7.4 percent from a year earlier.
Spain's core inflation in May rose to 3 percent, 0.2 percentage point higher than in April.
May inflation rises in France, Germany, Spain amid impact of Iran war
May inflation rises in France, Germany, Spain amid impact of Iran war
May inflation rises in France, Germany, Spain amid impact of Iran war
The ongoing China-ASEAN Expo serves as a bridge for China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to boost trade flows, helping both sides reap shared development dividends.
Scheduled to run from Sept 17 to 21 in Nanning City of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the event draws more than 3,400 exhibitors from over 70 countries and regions.
This year, Timor-Leste is participating for the first time as a full ASEAN member and a co-host of the expo, with participants noting results have exceeded expectations, bolstered by China's vast market.
"I brought 60 packages of 250-gram coffee, which would be sold out in one day. Now I'm thinking that China market is open for everybody and it's very huge," said an exhibitor from Timor-Leste.
Participants also hailed the construction of China's Pinglu Canal, which officially opened to traffic on Wednesday.
The 134.2-km-long canal runs from Hengzhou, a county-level city in Guangxi, to the Beibu Gulf, the closest maritime outlet for much of southwest China.
The canal becomes a cost-competitive river-sea intermodal shortcut connecting ASEAN producers with the vast consumer market in southwest China, said the participants.
"In the past, shipments into the southwest China usually went by sea to Guangzhou and then overlands. Too many handover made it hard to keep products fresh. Losses were high and transit time was unreliable. Now that the canal is open, we can enter [the] Guangxi [Zhuang Autonomous Region] directly from the Beibu Gulf and move on to Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan restaurants, faster onto the supermarket shelves and tables in the southeast [part of China]," said an exhibitor from Vietnam.
With the formal signing of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) 3.0 Upgrade Protocol in Oct 2025, bilateral cooperation has expanded beyond economic and trade areas to emerging fields such as the digital economy and the green economy.
"I am looking for an investor to develop agriculture and integrated tourism with us in Malaysia," said an exhibitor from Malaysia.
Economic ties between China and ASEAN have continued to deepen. Bilateral trade topped 1 trillion U.S. dollars for the first time in 2025, totaling 1.05 trillion dollars, up 7.4 percent year on year. In the first seven months of 2026, trade between the two sides reached 744.41 billion dollars, an increase of 24.7 percent year on year and accounting for 21.8 percent of China's total foreign trade.
China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 17 consecutive years, while ASEAN has been China's largest trading partner for six successive years.
China-ASEAN Expo boosts bilateral cooperation, delivers shared dividends
