China CPI rises 2.5 pct in Dec, 2.6 pct in 2013

China's consumer price index (CPI) grew 2.5 percent year on year in December, and 2.6 percent for the whole of 2013, well below the government's full-year target of 3.5 percent, official data revealed on Thursday.

December's CPI, a main gauge of inflation, was 0.5 percentage points lower than the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement.

December's inflation was 2.5 percent in both cities and rural areas. Food prices, which account for roughly a third of CPI, rose 4.1 percent in December from a year ago, while non-food products edged up 1.7 percent.

On a month-to-month basis, December CPI edged up slightly by 0.3 percent from November. Food prices increased 0.6 percent from November while prices of non-food products were up 0.1 percent, according to the NBS.

The producer price index (PPI), which measures inflation at the wholesale level, fell 1.4 percent year on year in December. Annualized PPI for 2013 fell 1.9 percent year on year, the NBS data showed.