China's industrial producer prices increased by 3 percent in February compared to the same period in 2005, the National Bureau of Statistics said (NBS) on Friday.

 

Prices paid by producers for raw materials, fuel and electricity rose by 6.8 percent in the same period.

 

Factory prices for mining products surged by 25.2 percent. Raw materials inched up 6.4 percent. Processed products rose by 0.1 percent.

 

Producer prices for consumer products, however, slid by 0.4 percent. Prices for food and durable consumer products declined by 1 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.

 

Manufacturer's prices for crude oil rocketed by 43.1 percent, driving up industrial prices by 1.3 percentage points. Petrol and diesel prices inflated by 25.9 percent and 23.7 percent, respectively.

 

Prices for raw and washed coal went up 9.3 percent.

 

Prices for refined, rolled and flattened ferrous metals declined by 7.6 percent, compared to a 15.3-percent increase in prices for smelted, rolled and flattened non-ferrous metals.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2006)