BEIJING, Aug. 9 -- China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went down 4.4 percent year on year in July, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Wednesday.

The decrease narrowed from a 5.4-percent drop registered in June. On a monthly basis, the July PPI fell 0.2 percent, with the decrease also narrowing from a 0.8 percent drop registered in June, NBS data showed.

Due to the influence of factors such as sufficient domestic production and supply, and the improvement of demand in some industries, the decrease of PPI narrowed in July, both on a monthly and yearly basis, said NBS statistician Dong Lijuan.

On a month-on-month basis, the July PPI for coal mining and beneficiation, as well as the ferrous metals smelting and rolling, went down 2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively, Dong said.

Due to price increases in the international market of crude oil and non-ferrous metals, the July PPI for the oil and gas extraction industry and the non-ferrous metals smelting and rolling industry grew 4.2 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, Dong said.

Meanwhile, the July PPI for computer manufacturing went up 0.4 percent, while the manufacturing prices of the lithium-ion batteries sector increased 0.3 percent. The prices of the textile, clothing, and apparel industries increased 0.6 percent. The PPI for cement manufacturing and glass manufacturing went down 6.5 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively, the NBS data showed.

In the first seven months of 2023, the PPI went down 3.2 percent year on year, the data showed.