China's PPI up 2.3 pct in August

BEIJING, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went up 2.3 percent year on year in August, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

The figure moderated from the 4.2 percent year-on-year increase registered in July. On a monthly basis, China's PPI fell 1.2 percent in August.

Due to price fluctuations of bulk commodities, including international crude oil and non-ferrous metals, and weak domestic demand, the prices of industrial products as a whole fell last month, said senior NBS statistician Dong Lijuan.

The coal mining and washing industry saw its PPI fall 4.3 percent month on month in August, while the PPI of the oil and gas extraction industry went down 7.3 percent month on month in August.

Affected by high temperatures, the PPI of the electricity and heat production and supply industry rose 0.3 percent in August compared with a decline of 1.1 percent in July.

The carry-over effect of last year's price movements contributed about 2.5 percentage points to the year-on-year PPI growth in August, according to the NBS.

Friday's data also showed that China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.5 percent year on year in August.