Why has China's CPI been so low in the past two years? Is there something wrong with a part of China's economy? 2025: CPI 0, PPI -2.6%; September 2026: CPI +0.9%, PPI +5.0%. Factory raw materials are going up, but the stuff people buy isn’t. 1. Domestic demand hasn’t picked up. Food prices dropped 1.7%, pork fell 10%, fresh vegetables down 8.1%. It’s not that we’re not producing—it’s that no one’s rushing to buy. 2. Oil prices are pushing PPI but not CPI. Middle East conflict, Brent crude broke $106. On the factory side in China: Non-ferrous metals +21.4%, Coal +35.3%, Oil +24.5%. Same country, two different worlds. Upstream is inflating, downstream is deflating. 3. New energy is replacing oil. 2025: China’s non-fossil energy surpassed oil for the first time, becoming the second-largest energy source. During a global oil crisis, China dodged a major vulnerability. So, it’s not that prices aren’t rising— factories are raising prices, but people aren’t buying. This isn’t deflation. It’s a breakdown in transmission. The real question is— Who’s eating up the profits in the middle? Why can’t we stimulate consumer spending in China?