BEIJING -- China's Producer Price Index, a main gauge of inflation at the wholesale level, fell 2.1 percent in June from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics announced on Monday.

It fell deeper than May's 1.4 percent, and marked another month of year-on-year decline after the PPI saw a drop in March for the first time since December 2009.

On a month-on-month basis, the country's PPI in June decreased 0.7 percent, the NBS said in a statement on its website.

Meanwhile, producer purchase prices declined 2.5 percent year-on-year in June and 0.8 percent on a monthly basis, it added.

In the first half of this year, the PPI dipped 0.6 percent year-on-year, while producer purchase prices dropped 0.3 percent.

The NBS also revealed on Monday that the consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, fell 2.2 percent in June from a year earlier.