China's headline consumer price index rose 2.1 percent on the year in January, up from 1.8 percent in December and just below the consensus forecast of 2.2 percent. The index advanced 0.8 percent on the month after no change previously.

Stronger headline inflation in January was largely driven by a stronger increase in food prices. These rose 6.2 percent on the year after advancing 4.8 percent previously. The year-over-year increase in non-food prices also picked up from 1.1 percent to 1.2 percent, while core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, rose 1.0 percent on the year, up from the 0.7 percent increase recorded previously and its highest since June 2022.

Forecasters see a 2.2 percent year-over-year rate in January versus 1.8 percent in December which was 1 tenth lower than expected. China's CPI has come in below Econoday's consensus the last three reports.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an index that measures changes over time in the price level of consumer goods and services purchased by residents, which reflects the overall changes in price level.

Consumer prices account for a majority of overall inflation, which is carefully monitored by investors worldwide. Investors worldwide monitor Chinese price changes closely. A pickup in inflation could mean an increase in interest rates is in the offing from the People's Bank of China while an easing could mean looser monetary policy. The monthly CPI is broken down by 8 categories with more detail available on the following day including aggregate information by urban and rural areas and provinces.

The CPI measures the change in the level of prices for a specified basket of goods and services normally purchased by urban and rural residents. Approximately 226 areas throughout the country are covered, including 80 counties and 146 cities. The current CPI is an annually chained Laspeyres price index and has been available since 2001. From 1978 to 2000, the index was compiled using current year weights for most items.