BEIJING, April 16 (Reuters) - China's producer price index fell 6.0 percent in March from a year earlier, Li Xiaochao, spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics, told reporters on Thursday following a news conference.
The fall was more severe than the 4.5 percent annual drop in February, and was also worse than economists' expectations of a 5.5 percent fall.
The statistics office had not included the single-month figure in its regular data release. (Reporting by Zhou Xin and Simon Rabinovitch; Writing by Jason Subler; Editing by Ken Wills)