Employees work on the production line of an electronics company in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province. SI WEI/FOR CHINA DAILY

　　China's factory-gate prices rose for a second straight month in April, while consumer inflation picked up moderately, as higher global energy and commodity costs filtered through to the world's second-largest economy, officials and analysts said on Monday.

　　The stronger-than-expected readings, they said, reflect a continued improvement in China's price dynamics.

　　Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday that China's producer price index, which measures factory-gate prices, rose 2.8 percent year-on-year in April, up 2.3 percentage points from March. The index returned to growth in March, ending 41 consecutive months of decline.

　　Dong Lijuan, an NBS statistician, said the stronger year-on-year PPI growth was mainly driven by higher global commodity prices and firmer demand in some domestic sectors, including those linked to rapidly growing computing power demand.

　　"Competition in the domestic market has become more orderly, as efforts to curb excessive competition continued to show results," Dong said.

　　On a month-on-month basis, the PPI rose 1.7 percent in April, up 0.7 percentage point from the previous month.

　　The pickup was also reflected in artificial intelligence-related manufacturing sectors, with prices in optical fiber manufacturing rising 22.5 percent month-on-month and prices for external storage equipment and components increasing 3.2 percent, the NBS said.