China’s producer prices fell by the sharpest rate in more than four years, underscoring pressure on the manufacturing sector. That compared with a 3.3 percent drop tipped by a Reuters poll of analysts and a 3.1 percent fall in April. The drop in producer prices was led by a 57.6 percent slide in prices in the oil and natural gas industry and a 24.4 percent drop in the oil, coal and other fuels processing sector, the statistics bureau said. On a monthly basis, however, producer prices showed some signs of steadying. May producer prices fell by 0.4 percent from the previous month, easing from April’s 1.3 percent fall, the bureau said.

Source: The Standard June 10, 2020 04:38 UTC