China to release national crude oil reserves

BEIJING - China's state reserves authority Thursday announced it would release crude oil from its national reserves to alleviate stress on businesses over rising raw material costs.

The National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration said the release, to be implemented in batches, mainly targets domestic enterprises that practice refining-petrochemical integration.

Since the beginning of this year, bulk commodity prices have surged due to factors including the overseas spreading of COVID-19 and the imbalances of supply and demand, weighing on medium and small firms.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics Thursday showed China's producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went up 9.5 percent year-on-year in August, faster than the 9 percent year-on-year increase registered in July.