BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went up 2.8 percent year on year in April, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.
From January to April, the PPI increased by an average of 0.2 percent year on year.
In April, producer prices for means of production rose 3.8 percent from a year earlier, pushing up the overall PPI by approximately 2.98 percentage points. Prices for the cost of living declined by 1 percent, dragging the overall index down by about 0.23 percentage points.
Among the main industries with price rises, non-ferrous metal mining and dressing was up 38.9 percent year on year, while oil and gas extraction rose 28.6 percent.
On a month-on-month basis, PPI rose 1.7 percent in April, accelerating from 1 percent in March.
NBS statistician Dong Lijuan attributed the rise in PPI to three main factors: international price movements driving up domestic petroleum-related sectors, stronger demand in certain domestic industries, and improved market conditions that supported prices or narrowed declines in relevant sectors.
China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 1.2 percent year on year in April, 0.2 percentage points higher than in March, the NBS data also showed.
The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, also increased 1.2 percent from a year earlier. ■
