China's producer-price inflation rose at the fastest pace in more than three years in February due to disruptions to fuel supplies during the country's worst snowstorms in five decades.

The Producer Price Index, the main gauge of factory-gate inflation, rose 6.6 percent from a year earlier last month after gaining 6.1 percent in January and 5.4 percent in December, the National Bureau of Statistics said this morning.

The figure was the highest since December 2004 when it stood at 7.1 percent.

Crude oil factory-gate prices were the fastest growing sector at 37.5 percent last month, followed by steel prices at 18.9 percent and food prices at 11 percent.

The higher PPI may also push the consumer price index to a new high.

The statistics authority is scheduled to release the CPI numbers on Wednesday.

China is still facing "very big pressure" to curb rising prices, National Bureau of Statistics Director Xie Fuzhan told reporters at the weekend in Beijing, where he is attending the annual National People's Congress session.

Consumer prices jumped 7.1 percent in January from a year earlier, the biggest increase since 1996. Premier Wen Jiabao said last Wednesday the government must do more to rein in lending and curb inflation in the world's fastest-growing major economy, a sign the central bank may raise interest rates for the seventh time in a year.

The worst snowstorms in half a century in areas such as Zhejiang, Guangxi and Hunan from mid-January closed factories, paralyzed transport and disrupted food and power supplies.

(Shanghai Daily March 10, 2008)