China's consumer inflation expected to decline in May

China's consumer price index (CPI) is expected to rise by less than 3 percent in May, down from 3.3 percent in April, Economic Information Daily reported on Friday.

The rising temperature has boosted the market supply of fresh vegetables, while pork prices continued to fall, Lu Zhengwei, chief economist at Industrial Bank, told the Economic Information Daily citing factors that will drag down the CPI growth.

Lu estimated that the CPI for May will rise 2.6 percent year on year.

Hua Changchun, the chief economist with Guotai Junan Securities, forecast the CPI growth at 2.8 percent in May with falling food prices, as the second quarter will witness abundant supply of grain and oil as well as progress in work resumption.

China's CPI, a main gauge of inflation, rose 3.3 percent year on year in April, easing from the 4.3-percent growth for March, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

China has set its consumer inflation target at around 3.5 percent for the year 2020, according to the government work report.

The NBS is scheduled to release the CPI for May on June 10.