China’s CPI increases by 1.0% YoY in March, PPI returns to growth

China’s consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose by 1.0% year on year in March, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Friday.

The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, increased by 1.1% year on year, according to the NBS. On a month-on-month basis, CPI fell by 0.7% in March, the data revealed.

The producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, showed its first increase following 41 straight months of declines. It rose by 0.5% year on year in March, after a 0.9% drop in February, according to the NBS.

NBS statistician Dong Lijuan attributed the turnaround mainly to imported inflationary pressures and improved supply-demand dynamics in some domestic industries.