China's October CPI up 0.5%

BEIJING -- China's consumer inflation eased for a third straight month in October as food prices tumbled, official data showed Tuesday.

Consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 0.5 percent year-on-year last month, narrowing from the 1.7 percent rise in September, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

On a monthly basis, consumer prices dropped 0.3 percent. Food prices, which account for nearly one-third of China's CPI, went down 1.8 percent last month.

Dong Lijuan, a senior statistician with the NBS, attributed the tamed inflation to the drop in food prices, especially eggs, vegetables and pork.

In breakdown, pork prices fell 7 percent last month, a further decline of 5.4 percentage points than September, as hog production capacity continues bouncing back, and pork supply keeps improving. Prices of eggs and vegetables dropped 2.3 percent and 2.1 percent respectively from September amid abundant supply.

Dong said that the high base of comparison in the same period last year, waning carry-over effect and the falling pork prices have led to the further decline in year-on-year CPI growth.

Tuesday's data also showed China's producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, fell 2.1 percent year-on-year in October.