1st LD-Writethru: China's producer prices ease in November

BEIJING, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's producer price inflation tamed down in November on low basis and government curbs on polluted industries, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Saturday.

The producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, rose 5.8 percent year on year in November. It was down from a growth of 6.9 percent recorded in October, on par with market forecast.

On a monthly basis, it was up 0.5 percent. In the first 11 months, PPI climbed 6.4 percent from one year earlier.

As northern China enters into winter heating season, the government has increased efforts to tackle smog, asking steel mills and smelters to halt production to curb pollution. Those measures cooled demand for industrial raw materials.

Compared with a month ago, factory-gate prices gained faster in oil and natural gas developers and ferrous metal producers. Costs increased at slower pace in oil processing and chemical producing industries, NBS senior statistician Sheng Guoqing noted.

Compared with a year ago, raw materials costs rose 7.5 percent, 1.5 percentage point down from that recorded in October.

The PPI figures came alongside the release of the consumer price index, which rose 1.7 percent year on year in November, down from October's 1.9 percent, and missing market forecast of 1.8 percent. Enditem