BEIJING, July 9 (Xinhua) -- China's consumer prices maintained mild growth in the first half (H1) of 2026, while factory-gate prices registered a slightly expanded year-on-year increase in June, official data showed on Thursday, pointing to overall stable price levels as the economy maintains steady operation.

The consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 1 percent year on year in the first six months of 2026, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed. In June alone, the CPI gained 1 percent year on year and edged down 0.3 percent month on month, with the core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, increasing by 1 percent year on year, continuing the moderate upward trend.

Dong Lijuan, an NBS statistician, attributed the month-on-month CPI dip in June to seasonal factors and fluctuations in international market prices.

Specifically, food prices dropped 0.4 percent month on month, as ample market supply pushed down vegetable and fruit prices by 1 percent and 2 percent, respectively, dragging the monthly CPI down by around 0.06 percentage point.

Affected by international price volatility, domestic prices of gold jewelry and gasoline fell 8.7 percent and 4.9 percent month on month, respectively, with their decline rates widening by 5.9 percentage points and 4.6 percentage points from May, jointly lowering the monthly CPI by about 0.22 percentage point.

On a year-on-year basis, the 1-percent CPI growth in June was 0.2 percentage point lower than the reading in May.

"Driven by international imported factors, the growth of domestic industrial consumer goods prices slowed to 2.9 percent year on year, 1 percentage point lower than in the previous month," Dong said.

Service prices rose 0.8 percent year on year, the same growth rate as that recorded in May. Food prices fell 1.6 percent year on year, with the decline narrowing by 0.1 percentage point from May.

On the production side, the producer price index, which measures factory-gate costs of goods, dropped 0.3 percent month on month in June, affected by falling international crude oil prices, but went up 4.1 percent year on year, 0.2 percentage point faster than the growth seen in May.

On the year-on-year front, the sectors of coal mining and washing, electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing, computer, communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing, and ferrous metal smelting and rolling registered expanded growth rates.

The sectors of non-ferrous metal mining, smelting and rolling, petroleum and natural gas extraction, petroleum, coal and other fuel processing, and chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing reported slower growth.