This episode contains segments on:
- China December Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI);
- EU to issue new minimum price plans for Chinese electric vehicles; and
- EU commission issues new guidelines for the Foreign Subsidies Regulation.
The Chamber will launch its annual Business Confidence Survey on 15th January. Members that complete the survey will be entered into a lucky draw to win prizes.
Contact:
We’d love to hear your feedback. Contact us at website@europeanchamber.com.cn.
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Read more:
Consumer Price Index (CPI) in December 2025
https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202601/t20260109_1962273.html
Producer Price Index (PPI) in December 2025
https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202601/t20260109_1962272.html
EU to issue new minimum price plans for Chinese electric vehicles
https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/xwfb/rcxwfb/art/2026/art_8f8d94dc5bac4f94851fa9d1081e9883.html
EU commission issues new guidelines for the Foreign Subsidies Regulation
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_43
Transcript:
NOAH: Hello and welcome to China ShortCuts,
XINHE: the European Chamber’s weekly catch-up on China’s business landscape.
NOAH: This episode was recorded on 14th January 2026.
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NOAH: China’s consumer price index—or CPI—continued to increase in December, reaching the highest year-on-year growth rate since February 2023.
XINHE: Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on 9th January showed a 0.8 per cent year-on-year increase for the month of December in overall consumer prices. This growth can mostly be attributed to a rise in consumer goods prices, while service price growth continued to trail behind. Across the eight major categories that factor into the CPI, six saw price increases, including food, tobacco and alcohol; daily necessities and services; and medical care. However, persistent weakness in the real estate sector continued to weigh down the CPI with housing prices falling by 0.2 per cent year-on-year.
Despite improvements in the final months of 2025, the CPI for the entirety of 2025 stagnated at the same level as 2024.
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NOAH: The Producer Price Index—or PPI—for industrial products remained in negative territory in December but declined at the slowest rate since August 2024.
XINHE: The PPI for industrial products fell by 1.9 per cent year-on-year, compared to the 2.2 per cent year-on-year the previous month. The mining industry saw its output prices decline most sharply, weighed down by weak commodity demand. Other industries saw either price stagnation or modest declines.
China’s efforts to rein in unsustainable competition and boost consumption through initiatives such as consumer-goods-trade-in programmes have so far yielded only a modest effect on persistent deflation. One main factor is the troubled housing market, which continues to drag down prices in real estate-related sectors and weigh on consumer sentiment.
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NOAH: On 14th January, the EU and China agreed on a process for Chinese battery electric vehicle producers to submit price undertaking offers as an alternative to paying the tariffs imposed on Chinese EV producers in October 2024.
XINHE: The guidance document accompanying the release stipulates that companies must propose minimum import prices in their price undertaking offer that offset any harm caused by subsidies, delivering an equivalent effect to the existing tariffs. Companies are also required to provide information about their sales channels to allow the European Commission to monitor undertaking compliance. Producers can also commit to voluntary import limits and future investments in the EU, which will be considered by the Commission when assessing whether to accept a company’s price undertaking offer. If an offer is accepted, tariffs would be removed.
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NOAH: On 9th January the European Commission published new guidelines for the Foreign Subsidy Regulation—or FSR—that clarify how the Commission determines whether foreign financial assistance has caused distortions in the EU’s internal market.
XINHE: In particular, the new guidelines lay out in detail how the Commission assesses whether a foreign subsidy strengthened a company’s competitive position in the EU. Regarding public procurement procedures, the new document provides guidance on how the EU assesses whether subsidies affected the terms of a tender. Some companies had previously criticised the lack of transparency in this process.
The FSR was launched in 2023 and—although the regulation itself is country agnostic—most of the investigations launched under it so far have targeted Chinese companies.
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NOAH: The European Chamber will be launching its annual Business Confidence Survey—or BCS— on 15th January. The BCS is the Chamber’s most important advocacy initiative.
XINHE: The survey helps build the most accurate picture of business sentiment across European industry in China, allowing the Chamber to shape its messaging for the year ahead more effectively.
NOAH: The survey will remain open until 13th February. Members that complete the survey will be entered into a lucky draw to win prizes.
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XINHE: Thanks for listening, and don’t forget to tune in next week.
NOAH: In the meantime, please find useful links in the episode notes.