BEIJING — China's producer prices saw narrowed decline in December 2020 amid a steady recovery in industrial activities, official data showed on Jan 11.

The producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, fell 0.4 percent year-on-year in December, narrowing from the 1.5-percent drop in November, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

On a monthly basis, the PPI rose 1.1 percent last month.

The continued recovery of domestic demand and soaring prices of some global commodities led to rising industrial product prices, said NBS senior statistician Dong Lijuan.

Affected by rising international prices of crude oil, the sub-index for the oil and gas extraction industry increased 7.9 percent from the previous month, according to the NBS.

With the demand for winter heating increasing, the PPI for the gas production and supply sector rose 4.1 percent.

In 2020, the PPI went down 1.8 percent from the previous year, NBS data showed.

The PPI data came along with the release of the consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, which rose 0.2 percent year-on-year in December.