BEIJING — China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went up 9 percent year-on-year in July, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Aug 9.

The expansion was faster than the year-on-year growth of 8.8 percent registered in June.

The higher PPI growth last month was partly due to sharp price hikes in crude oil and coal, said senior NBS statistician Dong Lijuan.

In the first seven months, the PPI growth averaged 5.7 percent year-on-year, according to the NBS.

Among the 40 surveyed industrial sectors, 32 saw price increases year-on-year, while eight reported price drops.

On a monthly basis, the PPI gained 0.5 percent in July, also faster than the growth seen in June.

The PPI for the coal mining sector went up 6.6 percent from the previous month due to strong demand for steam coal amid high temperatures, while the price growth of oil-related sectors expanded driven by rising prices of international crude oil, Dong said.

Compared with the previous month, the prices of agricultural materials also saw relatively fast growth, the data showed.

The data on Aug 9 also showed that China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 1 percent year-on-year in July.