China's producer price index (PPI), which measures prices of goods at the factory gate, went down 2.5 percent year on year in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.
On a month-on-month basis, the PPI dropped 0.4 percent in March, according to the NBS data.
NBS attributed the decline of PPI to several factors, including the drop in domestic oil prices, seasonal downturn in energy demand, and declining prices of some raw material industries.
Among the producer prices for industrial products, the price for means of production decreased by 2.8 percent in March, affecting the overall level of producer prices for industrial products decreased by about 2.09 percentage points.
Among them, the price for the mining industry decreased by 8.3 percent, the price for the raw material industry decreased by 2.4 percent, and the price for the processing industry decreased by 2.6 percent. The price for means of livelihood decreased by 1.5 percent, affecting the overall level of producer prices for industrial products decreased by about 0.38 percentage point. Among them, the price for food went down by 1.4 percent, for clothing down by 0.3 percent; prices for general commodities up by 0.7 percent, and for durable consumer goods down by 3.4 percent.
The purchasing prices for industrial producers decreased by 2.4 percent year on year in March, and down by 0.2 percent month on month, NBS said.
Among the purchasing prices for industrial producers, prices for ferrous metal materials down by 7.8 percent, for fuel and power down by 6.8 percent, for raw chemical materials went down by 3.4 percent, for agricultural and sideline products down by 3.0 percent, for both building materials and non-metallic down by 2.1 percent and for non-ferrous metal materials and wires up by 10.8 percent.
In the first quarter, the producer prices for industrial products and the purchasing prices for industrial producers both decreased by 2.3 percent compared with the same period of last year.
China's PPI down 2.5 pct in March
China's PPI down 2.5 pct in March
China's PPI down 2.5 pct in March
The series of erroneous words and actions by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi not only seriously deviate from the spirit of pacifist Constitution of the country but also further exacerbate regional tensions, said Tomoko Tamura, a member of the House of Representatives.
In an exclusive interview with China Central Television (CCTV), Tamura criticized Takaichi for straining Japan-China relations by making erroneous remarks on Taiwan, calling on her to improve bilateral relations.
Tamura pointed out that the political consensus reached during the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries remains of great significance, and Japan should respect and abide by it as the basis for repairing and rebuilding friendly relations with China.
"The erroneous remarks by Sanae Takaichi this time have led to the deterioration of China-Japan relations. This is absolutely unacceptable and must be retracted. Regarding the relations between two sides, the consensus reached during the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1972 is of utmost importance. At that time, the Chinese government asserted that Taiwan is part of China and the Japanese government fully understood and respected this stance. Now we should reaffirm this consensus, as well as the crucial agreements reached by both countries after 1972. Japan should explicitly acknowledge these significant agreements to rebuild friendly relations with China," she said.
Tamura also pointed out that in recent years, Japan has attempted to reshape its security policy, boosting defense spending, easing arms-export restrictions, pursuing offensive weapons development, and clearly deviating from the fundamental principle of "exclusively defense-oriented" policy.
"Japan's possession of long-range missiles clearly exceeded the scope of 'exclusively defense-oriented' policies. Japan is accelerating its military expansion. From the perspective of the Japanese constitution, this is absolutely not allowed. We are deeply concerned about the current Takaichi administration's disregard for the Japanese constitution. We clearly demand that Japan should adhere to the position of resolving issues through diplomatic efforts," she said.
Japanese official criticizes Takaichi's erroneous remarks
