China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, rose 0.4 percent year on year in March, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.
The pace picked up from the 0.1-percent flat growth recorded in February and met with the market expectation.
On a monthly basis, the PPI edged up 0.1 percent, compared with a 0.1-percent decrease in February.
In the first quarter of 2019, the PPI went up 0.2 percent from the same period a year earlier.
Factory prices of both production materials and consumer goods grew faster in March, up 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent year on year, respectively.
In breakdown, oil and natural gas exploration climbed 9.7 percent year on year, while processing of oil, coal and other fuel posted an increase of 3.5 percent.
