In June this year, China's producer price index (PPI) for its ferrous metal smelting and rolling sector increased by 3.1 percent year on year, compared to a year-on-year rise of 1.0 percent recorded in May, while edging up by 0.4 percent month on month, 0.8 percentage points slower compared to the rising pace recorded in May, reflecting slack demand from downstream users amid the widespread rainy weather and high temperatures negatively affecting the steel market, according to the data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Meanwhile, in the January-June period this year, China's PPI for its ferrous metal smelting and rolling sector decreased by 1.1 percent year on year, 0.9 percentage points slower than the decrease recorded in the January-May period.
In June, China's overall PPI increased by 4.1 percent year on year and decreased by 0.3 percent month on month. Also in June, Chinese industrial producers' purchase prices rose by 6.4 percent year on year and declined by 0.2 percent compared to May.
In the first six months this year, China's overall PPI increased by 1.5 percent year on year, while Chinese industrial producers' purchase prices rose by 2.4 percent year on year.
In the January-June period, the industrial product market showed a pattern of rising upstream costs outpacing downstream selling prices. Industrial enterprises, particularly midstream manufacturers, faced notable margin compression.
