BEIJING - China's producer price index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level, dropped 2.8 percent year-on-year in October, compared with a 3.6-percent decline in September, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.

This is the ninth straight month of decline. China's PPI dropped for the first time in March this year since December 2009.

On a month-on-month basis, the PPI moved up 0.2 percent in October, according to the NBS.