China's factory-gate inflation continues to ease in June

BEIJING -- China's factory-gate inflation eased for the sixth straight month in June as the country's efforts to promote production resumption and stabilize supply and prices have gradually paid off.

China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went up 6.1 percent year-on-year in June, narrowing by 0.3 percentage points from a month earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Saturday.

Senior NBS statistician Dong Lijuan attributed the PPI ease to continued efforts to accelerate production resumption and unclog industrial and supply chains, as well as effective policies to ensure stable prices and supplies.

On a monthly basis, China's PPI remained flat last month compared with the 0.1-percent rise in May.

Among 40 industrial sectors surveyed, 37 saw price growth in June, the same as that in May, NBS data showed.

The petroleum and natural gas extraction sector saw its PPI climb 54.4 percent year-on-year last month, expanding by 6.6 percentage points from May.

The PPI of the agricultural and sideline food processing sector went up 5.6 percent year on year in June, compared with the 3.7-percent increase logged in the previous month.

The coal mining and washing industry saw the PPI soar by 31.4 percent year-on-year, narrowing by 5.8 percentage points from that in May.

The carry-over effect of last year's price movements contributed about 3.8 percentage points to the year-on-year PPI growth in June, according to the NBS.

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