Robotic arms produce robots at a factory of Estun Automation in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province. Photo: VCG

China's Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures prices at the factory gate, rose 0.5 percent year-on-year in March, reversing a 0.9 percent decline in the previous month and marking the first increase in more than three years, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Friday.

NBS statistician Dong Lijuan said the main feature of the year-on-year PPI movement in March was that imported factors pushed up prices or narrowed declines in related domestic industries. Prices in the mining and processing of non-ferrous metal ores rose 36.4 percent year-on-year in March, up 6.2 percentage points from the previous month, while prices in the smelting and processing of non-ferrous metals rose 22.4 percent, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous month.

Prices in petroleum and natural gas extraction shifted from a 12.9 percent decline in the previous month to a 5.2 percent increase in March. Meanwhile, prices in the processing of petroleum, coal, and other fuels, and in the manufacture of raw chemical materials and chemical products fell by 4.5 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, in March, with the rates of decline narrowing by 7.5 and 3.4 percentage points from the previous month, NBS data showed.

Meanwhile, improved supply and demand conditions in some domestic industries led to higher prices, according to Dong.

"Market competition has become more orderly, with prices for photovoltaic equipment and components and lithium-ion batteries rising by 5.2 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively," Dong said.

New growth drivers also gained momentum. With the accelerated expansion of "AI+" and rapid growth in demand for computing power, prices in optical fiber manufacturing rose 76.1 percent, prices for external storage devices and components rose 21.1 percent, and prices in the manufacture of electronic specialty materials rose 18.7 percent, according to the NBS.

Additionally, the green transition supported growth, with prices in biomass fuel processing and the comprehensive utilization of waste resources rising by 6.1 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.