BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went down 2.7 percent year on year in February, the National Bureau of Statistics said Saturday.

The decrease widened from a 2.5-percent decline in January. On a monthly basis, the PPI edged down 0.2 percent, the data showed.

As industrial production slowed down due to the Spring Festival that fell in February this year, the PPI decline widened, said NBS statistician Dong Lijuan.

Demand for steel and cement dropped in February as construction projects halted during the holiday period, sending the prices of the ferrous metal smelting and rolling industry as well as the cement producing industry down 0.4 percent and 1.4 percent month on month respectively.

The PPI of coal mining and washing industry edged down 0.7 percent month on month in February, compared to a 0.1-percent increase in January, due to decreased heating demand as temperatures rose in the country's northern regions.

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, edged up 0.7 percent year on year in February, NBS data showed. Enditem

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