China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 1.8 per cent year on year in May, the same as the CPI growth in April, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Saturday.
The NBS statistician Sheng Guoqing attributed the CPI rise in May mainly to the carry-over effects, with new price-rising factors contributing only 0.4 percentage point.
Food prices rose by 0.1 per cent, resulting in a growth of 0.01 percentage point in the price index. Non-food prices rose by 2.2 per cent, generating a rise of 1.74 percentage points in the price index.
Although the prices of eggs and vegetables surged by 24.7 per cent and 10 per cent respectively, the price hikes have been largely offset by the decline in the prices of pork, according to Sheng.
In May, the prices of pork and fruits dropped by 16.7 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively, dragging down the food prices by 0.48 percentage point, reports Xinhua.
As for non-food prices, the costs of health care products grew by 5.1 per cent while that of education and housing jumped by 2.7 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively.