China's March PPI rises faster than expected

BEIJING: China's factory inflation slowed slightly in March but beat expectations, data showed on Monday (Apr 11), as the country grapples with cost pressures caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and persistent supply chain bottlenecks.

The producer price index (PPI) increased 8.3 per cent year-on-year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), easing from 8.8 per cent growth in February but beating a forecast for a 7.9 per cent rise in a Reuters poll.

China's consumer price index (CPI) inched up 1.5 per cent year-on-year, after a gain of 0.9 per cent in February, compared with 1.2 per cent tipped by a Reuters poll.

The world's second-largest economy came under downward pressure in March with renewed COVID-19 outbreaks and manufacturing and service sectors reporting declines in activity.