China's producer price index up 8.3% in March

China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went up 8.3 percent year on year in March, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Monday.

The figure moderated from the 8.8 percent year-on-year increase registered in February this year. On a monthly basis, China's PPI gained 1.1 percent in March, compared with the 0.5 percent increase in February.

Factors including price hikes of bulk commodities in the international market led to the monthly PPI increase in March, according to senior NBS statistician Dong Lijuan.

Prices of oil and nonferrous metal industries continued to rise as geopolitical and other factors have pushed up costs of international bulk commodities, Dong said.

The PPI of the oil and natural gas exploitation sector increased by 14.1 percent month on month, while that of the petroleum, coal and other fuel processing sectors went up 7.9 percent from a month earlier.

The carry-over effect of last year's price movements contributed about 6.8 percentage points to the year-on-year PPI growth in March, Dong added.

Global inflations continued to rise recently, posing imported inflation pressure on the Chinese market, said Wen Bin, chief analyst at China Minsheng Bank, noting that the pressure would continue in the near future as the prices of international bulk commodities are more likely to increase.

China's overall inflation level is controllable at present, with relatively limited influence on monetary policies, Wen said.

He suggested adopting related policies as arranged to stabilize market expectations, continuing to ensure the supply and price stability of bulk commodities, and taking multiple measures to help market entities tide over difficulties.

Monday's data also showed that China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 1.5 percent year on year in March.