HUAIAN, CHINA – MARCH 09: Vehicles queue at a petrol station on March 9, 2026 in Huaian, Jiangsu Province of China. <\/p>\n
Zhao Qirui | Visual China Group | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
China’s factory-gate prices rose for the first time in more than three years while consumer inflation moderated in March, amid a surge in oil prices as the Iran war upended global energy markets.<\/p>\n
The producer price index grew 0.5% from a year earlier, the first growth since September 2022, ending the longest deflationary streak in decades. For the first quarter, the PPI fell 0.6% year on year. <\/p>\n
Consumer prices climbed 1% in March from a year earlier, missing economists’ forecast of 1.2% growth in a Reuters poll and slowing from a 1.3% rise in February, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday. <\/p>\n
Core CPI, which excludes volatile items like food and energy, grew 1.1% in March from a year earlier.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The war between the U.S. and Iran, now in its sixth week, has pushed oil prices sharply after Tehran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to most commercial tankers and major Middle East producers curbed oil production. <\/p>\n
The international benchmark Brent<\/a>