China's producer-price inflation slowed in May on smaller increases in fuel costs.

Factory-gate prices rose 2.8 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said today, after gaining 2.9 percent in April. That lagged behind the 3 percent median estimate of 16 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. For the first five months, producer prices climbed 2.8 percent.

China is trying to stop a flood of money from exports from stoking inflation, asset bubbles and excessive investment leading to overcapacity in manufacturing. Surging spending on factories has pushed up the costs of raw materials, energy, land and labor.

"Prices are still accelerating on a month-on-month basis,'' said Wang Qian, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co in Hong Kong. "There is some inflationary pressure remaining in the pipeline.''

The producer price of gasoline rose 2.5 percent in May from a year earlier after gaining 4.2 percent in April. The government raised fuel prices in May last year to help refiners cover costs.

Producer prices of non-ferrous metals rose 15.7 percent in May from a year earlier after jumping 18.8 percent in April, the statistics bureau said. Factory-gate prices of food climbed 6.3 percent after increasing 5.5 percent.

Purchasing prices increased 3.6 percent in May from a year earlier and 3.9 percent in the first five months, the statistics bureau said.

Consumer prices gained 3.3 percent in May, breaching the central bank's 2007 target, according to a Bloomberg News survey.

The figure will be released Tuesday.

China's urban fixed-asset investment jumped 25.5 percent in the first four months, accelerating from 24.5 percent growth in the whole of 2006.