China's producer price index (PPI), which measures prices of goods at the factory gate, went down 2.5 percent year on year in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.
On a month-on-month basis, the PPI dropped 0.4 percent in March, according to the NBS data.
NBS attributed the decline of PPI to several factors, including the drop in domestic oil prices, seasonal downturn in energy demand, and declining prices of some raw material industries.
Among the producer prices for industrial products, the price for means of production decreased by 2.8 percent in March, affecting the overall level of producer prices for industrial products decreased by about 2.09 percentage points.
Among them, the price for the mining industry decreased by 8.3 percent, the price for the raw material industry decreased by 2.4 percent, and the price for the processing industry decreased by 2.6 percent. The price for means of livelihood decreased by 1.5 percent, affecting the overall level of producer prices for industrial products decreased by about 0.38 percentage point. Among them, the price for food went down by 1.4 percent, for clothing down by 0.3 percent; prices for general commodities up by 0.7 percent, and for durable consumer goods down by 3.4 percent.
The purchasing prices for industrial producers decreased by 2.4 percent year on year in March, and down by 0.2 percent month on month, NBS said.
Among the purchasing prices for industrial producers, prices for ferrous metal materials down by 7.8 percent, for fuel and power down by 6.8 percent, for raw chemical materials went down by 3.4 percent, for agricultural and sideline products down by 3.0 percent, for both building materials and non-metallic down by 2.1 percent and for non-ferrous metal materials and wires up by 10.8 percent.
In the first quarter, the producer prices for industrial products and the purchasing prices for industrial producers both decreased by 2.3 percent compared with the same period of last year.
China's PPI down 2.5 pct in March
China's PPI down 2.5 pct in March
China's PPI down 2.5 pct in March
