China's PPI down 1.4 pct in February

China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went down 1.4 percent year on year in February, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.

The decrease expanded by 0.6 percentage points from that registered in January. On a monthly basis, China's PPI remained flat in February, according to the bureau.

"As industrial enterprises' production recovery accelerated and market demand improved last month, the PPI remained flat month on month," said senior NBS statistician Dong Lijuan.

"But owing to the high comparison base from the same period last year, the year-on-year decline continued," Dong said.

Thursday's data also showed that China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 1 percent year on year in February.