China's consumer inflation remained moderate in the first seven months of 2026, with the Consumer Price Index rising 0.9% year-on-year as a 13.4% drop in pork prices pulled down food costs. Data released on August 17 at a State Council Information Office press conference showed July CPI rose 0.5% from a year earlier but slipped 0.1% from June. Core CPI (an inflation gauge excluding food and energy) increased 1.1% in January through July and 0.9% in July, suggesting underlying price pressures stayed stable despite volatile food moves. Beyond prices, industrial output rose 5.3%, the services production index gained 4.7%, and total retail sales of consumer goods and services increased 2.6%, with services consumption outpacing goods. Fixed asset investment (spending on long-term projects such as factories and infrastructure) fell 6.7%, though the decline narrowed to 3.7% when real estate development was excluded, pointing to property as the main drag. Goods imports and exports climbed 17.3%, while the surveyed urban unemployment rate averaged 5.2%, unchanged from both January-June and a year earlier.