This undated photo shows a worker operating machinery at a textile factory in Nantong, Jiangsu province. (XU JINGBAI / FOR CHINA DAILY)

BEIJING -  China's producer prices continued to fall in July but the decline has kept narrowing as economic activities recovered amid effective epidemic control in the country, official data showed Monday.

The producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, fell 2.4 percent year on year in July, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)

The producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, fell 2.4 percent year on year in July, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The reading narrowed from the 3-percent drop in June and 3.7-percent fall in May.

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Month on month, overall producer prices gained 0.4 percent as industrial production continued to pick up and market demand gradually warmed, the NBS said, adding rising international commodities prices also played a role.

Due to rebounding global crude oil prices, prices in the sectors of oil and natural gas extraction surged 12 percent last month from June, while those for the processing of oil, coal and other fuel went up 3.4 percent.

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During the January-July period, factory-gate prices were down 2 percent on average compared with the same period last year.

The PPI data came along with the release of the consumer price index (CPI), which showed consumer inflation quickening to 2.7 percent in July on higher food prices.

The index picked up from the 2.5-percent growth in June and a 2.4-percent rise in May.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices went up 0.6 percent. Food prices, which account for nearly one-third of weighting in China's CPI, went up 2.8 percent last month.

In breakdown, pork prices climbed 10.3 percent from June due to tight supplies and increasing demand from the recovering catering industry.

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Prices of vegetables rose 6.3 percent from June as unfavorable weather conditions disrupted supplies and transport.

Compared with the same period last year, food prices remained the main driver of consumer inflation in July, rising 13.2 percent year on year and contributing 2.68 percentage points to the growth of CPI.

In the first seven months of this year, CPI went up 3.7 percent year on year.