China’s consumer prices expected to maintain moderate growth in second half of year: official

China's consumer prices are projected to maintain a moderate upward trend in the second half of 2026, supported by recovering domestic demand and newly implemented pro-consumption policies, a spokeswoman for the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.

Speaking in a press conference in Beijing, Wang Guanhua, the spokeswoman, responded to a media inquiry concerning July's core consumer price index (CPI) which rose by only 0.9 percent year on year, indicating that consumer demand has remained too weak to drive prices up.

"In the first seven months of this year, China's CPI rose by 0.9 percent year on year, while the core CPI increased by 1.1 percent. Compared with both the entire last year and the same period of last year, these growth rates have shown a fairly noticeable rebound. Overall, although imported international factors have caused some disruptions to prices in certain domestic sectors, the trend of moderate increases in consumer prices in China has not changed. Whether prices can rebound at a reasonable pace will still largely depend on domestic demand and the balance between supply and demand," said Wang, who is also a deputy director of the NBS's Department of Comprehensive Statistics of the National Economy.

She recalled that a recent meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee underscored the adoption of measures to optimize the implementation of policies that are intended to promote domestic demand through fiscal and financial coordination, tailor supply to the consumption needs of different groups to increase the provision of quality goods and services, and tap the potential of service consumption.

In response, all local governments and various competent central government departments are making every effort to implement these measures, she noted.

"Next, as policies aimed at expanding domestic demand and boosting consumption are gradually implemented, the potential of service consumption will continue to be unleashed. Rapid iteration of new products will also stimulate new forms of consumer demand, which will keep supporting a reasonable rebound in the CPI. Overall, consumer prices in China are expected to maintain a moderate upward trend in the second half of the year," Wang said.

China’s consumer prices expected to maintain moderate growth in second half of year: official

China's summer movie season is gaining momentum as a diverse lineup of domestic and imported films draws moviegoers across the country, with the total box office revenue surpassing 10.1 billion yuan (some 1.49 billion U.S. dollars) as of Monday morning.

Domestic productions have taken the lead, with sports comedy film "Kung Fu Soccer," animated fantasy-comedy "All Wishes Come True" and anti-war film "Once Upon a Time in the Middle East" ranking among the top-grossing titles.

Their strong performance reflects growing audience demand for quality domestic films, while imported releases such as "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" and "The Odyssey" are adding further variety to the market.

This year's summer lineup covers a broad range of genres, including comedy, animation, sci-fi, war, suspense and action, offering audiences more choices and helping attract viewers from different age groups and with different interests.

"Since the beginning of August, a variety of domestic and international blockbusters have been released, and he moviegoer traffic has nearly doubled compared with July. The sales of film-related merchandise, themed derivative items, and even popcorn as a film-watching snack, have also increased significantly," said Bai Hang, a duty manager at a cinema in eastern Beijing's Chaoyang District.

According to film data platform Lighthouse as of Sunday, the summer box office had risen 3.2 percent year on year, while the number of moviegoer visits reached 274 million, up 5.7 percent from the previous year's corresponding period.

Chen Tao, vice dean of the School of Liberal Arts at the Renmin University of China, said that high-quality domestic productions have played a particularly important role this summer, with strong word of mouth helping turn quality content into audience demand.

This year's summer movie season runs through August 31.

China's summer box office gains momentum with diverse films