BEIJING, April 11 (Xinhua) -- China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs of goods at the factory gate, rose 0.4 percent year-on-year in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.
The pace picked up from the 0.1-percent flat growth recorded in February and met market expectations.
On a monthly basis, the PPI edged up 0.1 percent, compared with a 0.1-percent decrease in February.
In the first quarter of 2019, factory-gate inflation went up 0.2 percent from the same period a year earlier.
Factory prices of both production materials and consumer goods grew faster in March, up 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent year-on-year respectively.
Mining saw the biggest price hike of 4.2 percent, followed by processing which grew 0.4 percent year on year. The decrease of raw material prices also eased.
NBS official Dong Yaxiu said the carry-over effects resulted in a rise of 0.9 percentage points in the PPI growth in March while new factors dragged down the pace by 0.5 percentage points.
China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.3 percent year on year in March.
The figure rebounded from the 1.5-percent growth registered in February.