Pak Thae Song, premier of the Cabinet of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), arrived in Beijing on Friday to pay an official visit to China.
Pak, also a member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and vice president of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK, is leading a party and government delegation to visit China from Friday to Sunday.
During the visit, Pak will attend a commemorative event marking the 65th anniversary of the China-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.
Commenting on the visit at a regular news briefing on Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that China will work with the DPRK to uphold the important common understandings reached between the top leaders of both parties and countries, strengthen strategic communication, enhance exchanges and cooperation, and advance their traditional friendship and partnership.
Premier of DPRK cabinet arrives in Beijing for official visit
China's Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 1.5 percent year‑on‑year in the first half of the year, influenced by improved supply‑demand dynamics in domestic industries and fluctuations in international commodity prices, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.
The growth rate widened compared with the same period last year, pointing to a gradual recovery in industrial production prices, the NBS said.
Data showed that in June alone, the PPI increased by 4.1 percent, with the growth rate widening by 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous month.
"In terms of production, the industrial sector has become increasingly intelligent, green, and integrated, while the new economy and new growth drivers played an ever-greater role in supporting and leading the sector, resulting in rising prices in related industries," said Dong Lijuan, chief statistician of the NBS' Department of Urban Surveys.
Due to international factors, prices in the petroleum-related industries have shifted from a downward trend to an upward one. In the first half of the year, prices in petroleum and natural gas extraction, as well as petroleum, coal, and other fuel processing industries, all turned from decline in the first quarter to growth, according to the NBS.
Additionally, certain downstream manufacturing sectors saw sustained price improvement thanks to optimized market competition order. The year-on-year growth rates of ex-factory prices in the electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing sector, as well as the computer communication, and other electronic equipment manufacturing sector, both expanded compared to last year.
In the non-ferrous metals industry, driven by demand from new energy and artificial intelligence development, prices continued their strong upward trend. Specifically, in the first half of the year, ex-factory prices in non-ferrous metal mining and dressing, as well as non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing, rose by 31.7 and 21.9 percent year-on-year, respectively.
In the petrochemical industry, influenced by the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict, prices rose to varying degrees. In the first half of the year, ex-factory prices in petroleum and natural gas extraction, petroleum, coal, and other fuel processing, and chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing increased by 8.6 percent, 3.1 percent, and 3.9 percent year-on-year respectively.
In the ferrous metals industry, supported by front-loaded infrastructure investment and strengthened capacity and output regulation, prices stabilized. The year-on-year price change in ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing turned from negative to positive starting in May, with the decline in the first half of the year narrowing compared to the same period last year.
"Certain downstream manufacturing sectors have seen sustained price improvement under the influence of optimized market competition order, computing infrastructure construction, and industrial technology upgrades. In the first half of the year, the year-on-year growth rates of ex-factory prices in the electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing sector, as well as the computer, communication, and other electronic equipment manufacturing sector, both expanded compared to the same period last year," said Liu Nancun, an economist with the National Development and Reform Commission.
China's PPI rises 1.5 pct in first half of 2026
