Prices for goods at the factory gate in China beat expectations slightly in February, officials said Thursday, rising for the sixth straight month as strong demand boosts the world's second-largest economy.

The producer price index rose 7.8 percent year-on-year in February, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, topping economist expectations of a 7.7 percent increase in a Bloomberg poll.

The consumer price index rose 0.8 percent in the month, missing the 1.7 percent increase estimated by economists.