China’s October PPI slows down
The pace of growth in China's producer prices slowed down in October as procurement costs for raw materials such as steel fell. Data from China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that the country's producer price index (PPI) rose 4 percent in October, following a 4.5 percent rise in September. Notably, ferrous metal prices rose only 0.3 percent year on year in October, as did food procurement prices. Clothing prices were up 1.2 percent, and consumer goods increased 1.5 percent. The NBS indicated that the 33.3 percent rise in crude oil prices contributed 1.1 percentage points to the growth in the overall PPI last month. Coal prices in October rose 19.2 percent year on year, the NBS said.