BEIJING -- China's Producer Price Index (PPI), a major measure of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 6.5 percent in September year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

September's PPI growth was lower than August's 7.3 percent increase, the NBS said in a statement on its website.

Producer purchase prices in September rose 10 percent year-on-year, and grew 0.1 percent from August, according to the NBS.

During the first nine months of this year, the country's PPI climbed seven percent from the same period last year and producer purchase prices rose 10.4 percent.

The producer prices of production materials rose 7.1 percent year-on-year in September, and declined 0.1 percent from August, the statement said.