China reports continued improvement in factory-gate prices i

BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- China saw continued improvement in factory-gate prices last month, with the decline in its producer price index (PPI) continuing to narrow, according to official data on Monday.

The PPI, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went down 0.9 percent year on year in February. This decrease narrowed from a 1.4-percent decline registered in the previous month, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

On a monthly basis, the PPI rose 0.4 percent in February, maintaining the same rate of increase recorded in January, the data revealed.

NBS statistician Dong Lijuan attributed the month-on-month PPI rise and the narrowing decline in the index year on year to factors including the upward trend of international commodity prices, the rapid growth of demand in some domestic industries, and the effectiveness of macro policies.

China's PPI has increased on a monthly basis for five consecutive months, Dong said, noting that this trend has been fueled, in particular in February, by the upward trend of international non-ferrous metal and crude oil prices that drove up prices of related domestic industries, and the growth of computing power which also increased demand in some industries and resulted in corresponding price increases.

Monday's data further showed that China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 1.3 percent year on year in February. On a month-on-month basis, the CPI increased by 1 percent last month.