China’s August PPI gains momentum
The pace of growth in China's producer prices rose in August for the first time in three months as oil prices surged. Data from China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that the country's producer price index (PPI) rose 5.3 percent in August. This is 0.1 percentage points higher than in July. A 36.2 percent rise in oil prices contributed 1.2 percentage points to the growth in the overall PPI last month. On the other hand, growth in prices for some steel products and coal slowed last month. Coal prices rose 23.7 percent in August, the lowest increase this year. Medium-sized steel product prices fell 0.7 percent, and steel rods, which are used in construction, fell 2.8 percent. This is the first drop this year for these products. Steel prices may moderate further as Chinese producers reduce prices. Baoshan Iron & Steel Company, China's largest steel producer, announced that it would lower prices in the fourth quarter by 8 to 17 percent because of a surge in global output.