(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-10 14:08

BEIJING -- Surging crude oil prices drove up China's producer price index (PPI) by 4.6 percent year-on-year in November, the largest one-month increase in more than two years, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.

The previous record monthly gain of 5.3 percent was in August 2005.

The latest PPI figure indicated accelerating price pressure, coming on the heels of a 3.2 percent rise in October. The PPI rose by less than 3 percent in each of the previous eight months.

Crude oil prices rose 22.6 percent in November, compared with a much more moderate 4.2 percent for the previous month.

The costs of raw materials, fuel and power rose by 6.3 percent from a year earlier, up from 4.5 percent in October.

Higher prices at the producer level could add pressure to the country's rising consumer prices.

China's major inflation indicator -- the consumer price index (CPI) -- hit an 11-year monthly high of 6.5 percent in August. The CPI rose 6.2 percent in September and 6.5 percent again in October, all well above the government-set target of 3 percent.