(Corrects to add dropped word in headline) SHANGHAI, May 26 (Reuters) - An appreciation in China’s yuan might not be a good way to deal with rises in commodity prices, the state-owned Economic Information Daily said in a front-page commentary on Wednesday. Many market participants told Reuters they took the commentary in the paper, which is owned by the official Xinhua news agency, as a signal of China’s official stance towards recent discussion over the yuan and surges in factory-gate prices in the mainland. China shouldn’t focus on a continued yuan appreciation to reduce the cost of imports and price levels, Wang Jinbin, a professor at Renmin University of China, wrote in the commentary, headlined “RMB appreciation may not be a good way to deal with commodity price rises”. Wang added that it was not appropriate to use key monetary policy tools to cope with structural increases in import prices. “From a policy perspective, yuan exchange rate policy is acting as an important monetary policy tool. Structural increases in commodity prices in global financial markets do not mean significant inflationary pressures will occur globally,” he said. Domestic markets have heatedly debated in recent weeks if China should allow further strength in its currency to offset rising commodity prices. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) over the weekend reiterated there was no change to the currency policy after comments from central bank researchers had unnerved the market. Wang said rapid rises in the yuan could hurt the country’s exporters, which play an important role in China’s dual-circulation strategy to prop up economic growth. The dollar index was largely flat so far this year, while the onshore yuan has already gained 2.1% against the greenback and strengthened 2.7% against its major trading partners year-to-date. (Reporting by Winni Zhou and Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)