The producer price index (PPI), a major measure of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 4.3 percent in January from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Thursday.

It quickened from 1.7 percent in December 2009 when the figure ended 12 months of decline.

Analysts said the domestic price reform of major resource products and rising international commodity prices accelerated the PPI growth.

In breakdown, the price of crude oil surged 70 percent, and that of raw coal was up 5.3 percent.

Non-ferrous metal price rose by a quarter.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2010)