BEIJING, May 9 (Xinhua) -- China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, rose 0.9 percent year on year in April, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.

The pace beat market expectations and picked up for two consecutive months, expanding from 0.4 percent in March and 0.1 percent in February.

On a monthly basis, producer prices went up 0.3 percent in April, faster than the 0.1-percent increase recorded in March.

Higher PPI inflation in April resulted from a low base and higher prices of major commodities, according to Japanese securities brokerage Nomura.

NBS data showed factory prices of production materials grew 0.9 percent year on year in April, up 0.6 percentage points from a month earlier.

In breakdown, excavation prices continued its upward trend, which rose 5.3 percent year on year, faster than the 4.2-percent growth in March. Growth of processing prices also quickened, up 0.9 percent year on year, while raw material prices stopped falling in previous months and remained flat in April.

Among major industries, oil and natural gas extraction saw faster price rises in April, jumping 10.1 percent from the previous year, according to the NBS.

Ferrous metal mining reported the biggest price hike of 10.6 percent year on year, faster than the 5.8 percent-increase in March.

NBS official Dong Yaxiu said the carry-over effects resulted in a rise of 1.1 percentage points in the PPI growth in April while new factors dragged down the pace by 0.2 percentage points.

In the first four months, the index climbed 0.3 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Thursday's data also showed China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.5 percent year on year in April, quickening from the 2.3-percent growth for March. Enditem

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