In the March, the ex-factory price of industrial products rose 2.5% over the last March. The purchase prices of materials, fuels and power went up 6.2%.

    Among the ex-factory prices of industrial products, the ex-factory price of means of production went up 3.5% over last March. Especially, the product price of mining industry climbed 20.2%; that of raw materials rose 5.6%; that of processing industry kept the same level. The ex-factory prices of living materials dropped 0.3% over last March, of which, that of foods descended 0.8%; that of clothes went up 1.3%; that of daily-used articles rose 0.7%, that of durable goods declined 2%.

    Analysis by product category was as follows:

    The ex-factory price of crude oil went up 33.5%, forcing the general ex-factory price level of industrial products to rise about 1 percentage point. Those of gasoline, kerosene and diesel oil rose 24.1%, 24.9% and 20.5% respectively.

    Among the prices of chemical products, the ex-factory prices of polystyrene declined 8.8% over the same month of last year, that of terylene filament descended 5.9%, that of cis-1,4-polybutadiene rubber went up 1.7%.

    Among the prices of coal product, the ex-factory prices of coal mining and dressing went up 8.1%, of which, that of raw coal climbed 7.6%.

    The ex-factory prices of smelting and pressing of ferrous metals dropped 8.6% over last March. Especially, that of common large-sized steel products declined 8.4%, that of common medium-sized steel products dropped 12%, that of common small-sized steel products descended 6.6%, that of bars dropped 12.5%, that of medium-thick steel board fell 18.3%.

    The ex-factory prices of smelting and pressing of non-ferrous metals climbed 15.4% over the same month of last year. Especially, those of copper, aluminium, lead and zinc increased between 10.5% and 38.4%.

    In addition, among the purchase prices of raw materials, fuels and powers, those of fuel powers, non-ferrous metals and chemical materials rose 16.7%, 19.8% and 0.2% respectively, those of ferrous metal materials declined 3%.

    Compared with the same period of last year, the ex-factory price of industrial products went up 2.9%, and the purchase prices of raw materials, fuels and power went up 6.5% from January to March.