China's factory-gate prices see narrowed decline in November

BEIJING, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's producer prices saw a narrowed decline in November amid a steady recovery in industrial activities, official data showed Wednesday.

The producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, fell 1.5 percent year on year in November, narrowed from the 2.1-percent drop in October, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

On a monthly basis, the PPI rose 0.5 percent last month.

Market demand continued to improve in November with rising prices of industrial products, said NBS senior statistician Dong Lijuan.

Among the 40 surveyed industrial sectors, 24 saw prices rise month on month in November, up from 12 sectors seen in October.

Affected by upward international prices of crude oil, the sub-index for the oil and gas extraction industry edged up 0.9 percent from the previous month, according to the NBS.

With increasing demand for winter heating, the PPI for coal mining as well as gas production and supply sectors rose 2.2 percent and 2.8 percent month on month, respectively.

In the first 11 months, the PPI went down 2 percent on average from the same period last year, NBS data showed.

The PPI data came along with the release of the consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, which dipped 0.5 percent year on year in November.