CBN丨China's CPI growth quickens in January

Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.

Coming up on today’s program

• China's CPI sees moderate growth in January due to holiday spending and expanded trade-in program;
• ASEAN tour groups can visit Xishuangbanna visa-free.

Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours

China's consumer price index (CPI) rose by 0.5 percent year-on-year in January, up from a 0.1-percent increase in December, showing moderate growth in consumer price levels, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Sunday. 

The CPI in January rose at the fastest pace in five months. The NBS attributed the growth mainly to the brisk consumption seen in the recently concluded Spring Festival holidays.

The CPI, a key gauge of inflation, turned from flat to a 0.7-percent month-on-month increase. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, has risen for four consecutive months, according to the NBS.

The rise of consumption during the Spring Festival holidays was the main factor driving the CPI increase, and recent stimulate policies such as the expanded trade-in programs for consumer goods have also shown effect, analysts noted.

Data from the commerce ministry showed Sunday that more than 20 million consumers have applied for China's electronic products trade-in subsidies since the government launched the pro-consumption program three weeks ago.

Some 20.09 million consumers applied for the subsidies to buy 25.41 million units of electronic products such as mobile phones as of Saturday.

Card payment giant China UnionPay said it has recorded 6.27 million subsidized transactions with sales value totaling 20.58 billion yuan in the reporting period.

Driven by the incentives, mobile phone sales in China jumped by 74 percent in volume and 65 percent in value on a weekly basis in the week prior to the Spring Festival, market data revealed.

Meanwhile, the producer price index (PPI), which measures factory-gate prices, declined by 2.3 percent year-on-year in January. The NBS attributed the drop to seasonal declines in industrial activity during the Spring Festival holidays. On a month-on-month basis, the PPI slipped 0.2 percent, NBS data showed.

• China has allowed tour groups from ten ASEAN countries to visit Xishuangbanna in southwestern Yunnan province free of visa for up to six days, the National Immigration Administration announced today.

Greater Bay Area, Greater future

• Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee continued his visit to Harbin on Saturday to support the members of the Hong Kong, China delegation, the largest ever to participate in the 9th Asian Winter Games Harbin 2025. Lee also visited cultural and tourism facilities and met with Hong Kong young people currently on exchange in Harbin.

Next on industry and company news

• Chinese animated blockbuster "Ne Zha 2" has shattered multiple box office records, with total box office (including pre-sales) exceeding USD1.152 billion, becoming the first non-Hollywood title to join the billion-dollar club. The movie has also set a new record for all-time admissions in China, drawing over 160 million moviegoers, per data from ticketing platforms Maoyan and Beacon. "Ne Zha 2" is now ranking at 30th place in global box office chart.
• Shares in Dongfeng Motor surged almost 90 percent in Hong Kong after the Chinese automaker said its parent company plans to restructure, a move investors speculated could kick start consolidation in the nation’s ultra competitive car market. Dongfeng Motor Corporation is mulling an organizational restructure with other central state-owned enterprises, pending approval from authorities, Dongfeng Motor said yesterday. The move will not affect the company’s operation, it added.
• Chinese milk tea chain HeyTea will temporarily stop accepting business partnership applications to halt franchising this year, aiming to focus on supporting existing business partners in better-serving clients, according to an internal notice today.
• China's three main telecom operators have been fully connected to the open-source large models of DeepSeek, realizing applications in multiple scenarios and products, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Saturday. Meanwhile, a number of brokerage firms such as Industrial Securities, Sinolink Securities and Guoyuan Securities also carried out integration with DeepSeek's AI models. 
• The number of enterprises in the smart robot industry in China had reached 451,700, with a total registered capital of 6.44 trillion yuan by the end of 2024, according to the State Administration for Market Regulation. The number of such enterprises grew by 19.4 percent compared to the end of 2023.
• Lenovo and Saudi firm Alat yesterday broke ground on a new manufacturing base in Riyadh, the Chinese PC maker said. The factory will cover 200,000 sqm at the Special Integrated Logistics Zone near the city's international airport and produce laptops, desktops, and servers, likely starting next year.
• Illumina conducted open communication with relevant departments, including the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, and will strictly adhere to China's laws and regulations, the US gene sequencing giant said today. Illumina was added to China's unreliable entity list for violating fair market trading principles on Feb. 4.

Switching gears to financial news

• The People's Bank of China had 73.45 million ounces of gold as of Jan. 31, up from 73.29 million ounces a month earlier. The value of China's gold reserves jumped by USD15.2 billion to USD206.5 billion, accounting for a record 5.9 percent of its total reserve assets.

Wrapping up with a quick look at the stock market

• Chinese stocks climbed on Monday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite up 0.6 percent and the Shenzhen Component adding 0.5 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also jumped 1.8 percent, and the TECH index surged 2.65 percent.

Executive Editor: Sonia YU

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI

Writer: Stephanie LI

Sound Editor: Stephanie LI

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.

Presented by SFC