China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 1.8 percent year on year in May, the same as the CPI growth in April, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Saturday.
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 edged up by 0.1 percent, resulting in a growth of 0.01 percentage point in the price index. Non-food prices rose by 2.2 percent, generating a rise of 1.74 percentage points in the price index.
Although the prices of eggs and vegetables surged by 24.7 percent and 10 percent respectively, and mutton prices jumped by 13.5 percent, the price hikes have been largely offset by the decline in the prices of pork, China's staple meat, and fruits, according to Sheng.
In May, the prices of pork and fruits dropped by 16.7 percent and 2.7 percent respectively, dragging down the food prices by 0.48 percentage point.
As for non-food prices, the costs of health care products grew by 5.1 percent while that of education and housing jumped by 2.7 percent and 2.2 percent respectively.
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China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, rose 4.1 percent year on year in May, the National Bureau of Statistics said Saturday.
The figure also posted a month-on-month rise of 0.4 percent, reversing the decline trend since February, according to the bureau.
