Chief statistician Dong Lijuan of the urban department of the National Bureau of Statistics: There are two main reasons for the month-on-month changes in the Producer Price Index (PPI).

Dong Lijuan, Chief Statistician of the Urban Division of the National Bureau of Statistics: The month-on-month decrease of the Producer Price Index (PPI) was 0.2%, narrowing by 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous month, marking the first decrease in month-on-month decline since March. The main reasons for the month-on-month change in PPI this month are: first, seasonal factors combined with uncertainty in the international trade environment have resulted in price declines in some industries. With the increase in high temperatures and rainfall in summer, the progress of construction projects has slowed down, affecting the demand for building materials. In addition, in some regions, the abundant water flow in rivers has significantly enhanced the supplementary role of hydropower generation in place of thermal power generation, leading to a decrease in demand for coal and a drop in electricity prices. As a result, prices in the non-metallic mineral products industry decreased 1.4% month-on-month, prices in the black metal smelting and processing industry decreased by 0.3%, prices in the coal mining and washing industry decreased by 1.5%, and prices in the electricity, heat production, and supply industry decreased by 0.9%. Under the uncertainty of the international trade environment, prices in the computer communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing industry decreased by 0.4%, prices in the automotive manufacturing industry decreased by 0.3%, prices in the electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing industry decreased by 0.2%, and prices in the general equipment manufacturing industry decreased by 0.2%. The combined impact of these 8 industries resulted in a decrease of approximately 0.24 percentage points in the PPI month-on-month. Secondly, the continuous optimization of the domestic market competition order has led to a narrower decline in prices in related industries. The nationwide construction of a unified large market is advancing, leading to the continuous optimization of market competition orders in industries such as coal, steel, photovoltaics, cement, and lithium batteries. The month-on-month decline in prices for industries such as coal mining and washing, black metal smelting and processing, photovoltaic equipment and component manufacturing, cement manufacturing, and lithium-ion battery manufacturing decreased by 1.9, 1.5, 0.8, 0.3, and 0.1 percentage points respectively, which collectively reduced the downward impact on the month-on-month PPI by 0.14 percentage points compared to the previous month. In addition, international input factors have driven prices upward in domestic petroleum and non-ferrous metal-related industries, with prices in the oil and gas extraction industry rising by 3.0% and prices in the non-ferrous metal smelting and processing industry rising by 0.8%.