PPI rise fuels fresh worries

China's producer price index (PPI) hit a four-year high of 8.1 percent in April, highlighting the danger that the non-food sector might become a new driver of consumer inflation.

Crude oil saw the biggest hike, surging 37.9 percent from a year earlier, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.

Coal was up 20.9 year-on-year, while steel prices increased 25 percent to 41 percent.