BEIJING — China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, dropped 1.5 percent year-on-year in March, compared with a 0.4 percent decline in February, the National Bureau of Statistics said on April 10.

On a month-on-month basis, the PPI fell 1 percent last month.

In the first quarter of 2020, the PPI on average inched down 0.6 percent from the same period of last year.

Factory prices of capital goods decreased 2.4 percent year-on-year in March, widening from a 1 percent decline in February.

Ten of the 40 surveyed industries saw price hikes month-on-month, while 28 reported price drops and two witnessed unchanged prices.

Among major industries, prices for oil and natural gas extraction saw the fastest retreat in March, plunging by 21.7 percent year-on-year.

Prices for processing of oil, coal and other fuel slumped 10.6 percent year-on-year, while those of chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing went down 5.3 percent over one year ago in March.

The bureau's senior statistician Dong Lijuan said the carry-over effect of last year's price movements was almost zero, while new factors contributed entirely to the overall 1.5 percent drop last month.

The data released on April 10 also showed China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, grew 4.3 percent year-on-year in March, moderating from 5.2 percent in February.