BEIJING, May 9 -- China's producer price index (PPI), a measure of costs for goods at the factory gate, plunged 4.6 percent year on year in April, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Saturday.
The April PPI marked the 38th straight month of decline, suggesting continued weak market demand.
On a monthly basis, the April PPI dipped by 0.3 percent, widening from 0.1 percent registered in March.
"Lower fuel prices and coal production costs mainly caused the acceleration in the month-on-month PPI drop," said NBS senior statistician Yu Qiumei.
The HSBC/Markit PMI for China's manufacturing sector in April stood at 48.9, lower than the market expectation of 49.4.
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