The producer price index (PPI) for China's industrial products rose 7.6 percent year on year during the first half of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

The growth of PPI, which measures the value of finished products when they leave the factory, was 4.8 percentage points higher than the same period of last year.

The PPI jumped 8.8 percent in June year on year, compared with 8.2 percent in May.

The purchaser prices for raw material, fuel and power rose by 11.1 percent, compared with 13.5 percent in June. The growth was 7.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

The year-on-year growth of the prices for housing in 70 large and medium-sized cities went up by 10.2 percent, 4.2 percentage points higher than the same period last year. The growth rate was 8.2 percent in June.

(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2008)