BEIJING, Oct. 15 -- China has witnessed signs of improvement in industrial prices in September as the decline in its producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, continued to narrow, official data showed Wednesday.

The PPI went down 2.3 percent year on year in September, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said. The decline narrowed by 0.6 percentage points from the previous month, suggesting an improvement in industrial demand amid government efforts to bolster economic growth.

On a monthly basis, the PPI held steady in September after a 2.9 percent year-on-year decrease in August, the NBS data revealed.

Improvements in the supply and demand structure led to a notable stabilization of prices in certain sectors in September, said NBS statistician Dong Lijuan, who added that sectors including coal processing, ferrous metals smelting and rolling manufacturing, as well as photovoltaic equipment and component manufacturing, saw price growth last month.

In September, a decline in international oil prices led to month-on-month drops in prices in domestic oil-related sectors, according to Dong.

On a yearly basis, the continued effects of China's macroeconomic policies have driven positive price changes in some industries, Dong said, highlighting the positive roles played by the building of a unified national market, the upgrading of the industrial structure and pro-consumption policies.

PPI for the first nine months of the year was 2.8 percent lower compared with the same period in 2024.

Wednesday's data also showed that China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, was down 0.3 percent year on year in September.