China's producer price growth eases in January

A worker works at the automated production line in the digital factory of Xio Lift in Linping District, Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Dec. 17, 2021. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)

BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs of goods at the factory gate, posted slower growth in January over sustained government efforts to cool energy and raw material prices, official data showed Wednesday.

The PPI went up 9.1 percent year on year in January, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The growth was down from the 10.3 percent year-on-year increase registered in December last year, moderating for the third month in a row.

On a monthly basis, China's PPI dropped 0.2 percent in January.

Declining coal and steel prices, as a result of government measures to ensure supply and stabilize prices, have led to an overall price decline among industrial products in January, noted senior NBS statistician Dong Lijuan.

However, price hikes in the global markets shored up domestic producer prices in oil and non-ferrous metal industries. The PPI of oil and natural gas exploitation increased by 2.6 percent month on month, while that of non-ferrous metal processing went up 0.8 percent from a month ago.

The carry-over effect of last year's price movements contributed 9.3 percentage points to the year-on-year PPI growth in January, while new factors dragged down the pace by 0.2 percentage points, Dong said.

China's PPI rose 8.1 percent year on year in 2021, official data showed.

Wednesday's data also showed that China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 0.9 percent year on year in January.  ■