BEIJING — China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, dropped 0.3 percent year-on-year in 2019, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Jan 9.

It was down from a growth of 3.5 percent recorded in 2018, according to the bureau.

In December, the PPI dropped 0.5 percent year-on-year, shrinking from the 1.4-percent decline in November.

Factory prices of capital goods decreased 1.2 percent year-on-year in December, shrinking from the 2.5-percent declining in November.

Seventeen of the 40 surveyed industries saw price hikes month-on-month, while 16 reported price drops and seven witnessed unchanged prices.

Among major industries, prices for ferrous metal mining and dressing increased by 8.8 percent in December over one year ago, while non-ferrous metal mining and dressing saw producer prices rise 1.1 percent year-on-year.

The producer prices for the oil and natural gas extraction industry ended a losing streak and edged up 5.8 percent year-on-year in December.

Meanwhile, the PPI for chemical materials and chemicals production posted shrinking decrease, down by 5.4 percent year-on-year, while that for coal mining went down 3.6 percent from a year ago, said NBS senior statistician Shen Yun.

The data released on Jan 9 also showed China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.9 percent year-on-year in 2019.