Prices of production materials to rise 5 pct in fourth quarter

Prices of materials used in manufacturing in China are expected to rise 5 percent in the fourth quarter year on year, according to the price monitoring center of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The center predicted that prices will grow 3 to 3.5 percent on average this year.

Prices of non-ferrous metals and oil products are expected to increase fastest from October to December. Steel prices will rise slightly. Motor vehicles, machinery and electrical product prices will continue to decline.

From January to September, China reported a year-on-year increase of 2.52 percent in the prices of production materials.

In the same period, sales of production materials reached 12.8 trillion yuan (1.6 trillion U.S. dollars), an increase of 18.5 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The Ministry said it expects oversupply to continue in many industries, because of the fast growth in fixed assets investment, which has averaged more than 25 percent over the past four years,

Fixed assets investment rose to 7.19 trillion yuan in the first nine months, 27.3 percent up year on year.

Source: Xinhua