BEIJING — China’s consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.3 percent year on year in August, compared with 2.1 percent for July, official data showed on Sept 10.

The pickup was driven by a fast increase in non-food prices, which rose 2.5 percent year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on its website.

Prices for medical products and services rose 4.3 percent year on year, transport and communications prices gained 2.7 percent, while educational, cultural and entertainment prices rose 2.6 percent, the bureau said.

Food prices rose 1.7 percent year on year, contributing to a 0.33-percentage-point increase in the overall CPI increase.

On a month-on-month basis, the CPI increased 0.7 percent from July, as food prices rose 2.4 percent from July.

China is aiming to keep annual CPI growth at around 3 percent this year, the same as the target for 2017.

The average year-on-year CPI growth for the first eight months stood at 2 percent, unchanged from the first seven months, according to the NBS.

The producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, rose 4.1 percent year on year in August, slowing from the 4.6-percent increase in July.