BEIJING, Dec 10 (Reuters) - China's annual producer price inflation dropped to 2.0 percent in November from 6.6 percent in October following the collapse in global commodity and oil prices, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected a rate of 4.4 percent. [ID:nPEK354943]
It marked a third consecutive monthly decline since the headline figure peaked at 10.1 percent in August.
The rate was last lower in April 2006, when it stood at 1.9 percent.
Prices of raw materials, fuel and power were up 4.7 percent in November from a year earlier after a rise of 11.0 percent in the year to October.
The PPI in the first 11 months of 2008 rose 7.6 percent.
Chinese producer price index (percent change from a year earlier): _________________________2008________________________ __2007__ Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov 2.0 6.6 9.1 10.1 10.0 8.8 8.2 8.1 8.0 6.6 6.1 5.4 4.6
(Reporting by Simon Rabinovitch; editing by Ken Wills)