BEIJING, April 10 (Reuters) – China’s factory-gate prices in March turned positive for the first time in more than three years, official data showed on Friday, pointing to rising import cost pressures linked to the Middle East crisis.
The producer price index (PPI) increased 0.5% from a year earlier, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, ending a 41-month streak of declines. The reading beat an estimated 0.4% gain in a Reuters poll.
The consumer price index (CPI) ticked up 1% year-on-year, slower than a 1.3% rise in February. Economists polled by Reuters had expected prices to climb 1.2%.
On a monthly basis, CPI fell 0.7%, below expectations for a 0.2% decline and compared with a 1% rise in February.
(Reporting by Qiaoyi Li and Ryan Woo; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
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