China's CPI up in January

A citizen buys vegetables at a supermarket in Handan City, north China's Hebei Province, Jan. 9, 2020. (Photo by Hu Gaolei/Xinhua)

**Food prices was up 20.6 percent year on year this January as the country's CPI rose 5.4 percent over the same period. **

BEIJING, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 5.4 percent year on year in January, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday.

The increase was up from 4.5 percent for December.

Food prices grew 20.6 percent year on year last month, up from 17.4 percent in December, while non-food prices gained 1.6 percent, 0.3 percentage points higher than that of December.

Pork prices rose 116 percent year on year last month, while vegetable prices saw a 17.1 percent increase from a year ago.

The CPI in urban and rural areas posted a year-on-year growth of 5.1 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively. ■