China's CPI growth slows to 19-month low of 1.7%

Shoppers buy fruit at a supermarket in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province. [Photo by Jia Minjie/For China Daily]

China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, grew 1.7 percent year-on-year last month, the lowest level in 19 months and down from 2.4 percent in August, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

The CPI growth moderated as food prices continued to soften last month. The rise in pork prices slowed to 25.5 percent year-on-year, sharply down by 27.1 percentage points from a month earlier, as pork supply was further restored, the NBS said.

The rise in non-food prices edged down to zero year-on-year in September, versus a 0.1 percent growth a month earlier, with the prices for transportation dropping while those for medical care and education rising.

The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.5 percent year-on-year last month, the same as August, the bureau said.

Meanwhile, the country's producer price index, which gauges factory-gate prices, fell by 2.1 percent on a yearly basis in September, versus a 2.0 percent decline in August, with the slide in petroleum-related prices widening.