BEIJING — China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 0.7 percent year-on-year in September, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Oct 14.

The figure was lower than the 0.8 percent year-on-year growth recorded in August.

The slower growth was partly driven by a drop in food prices, which declined 5.2 percent year-on-year last month. In particular, the price of pork, a staple meat in China, slumped 46.9 percent from a year earlier, said senior NBS statistician Dong Lijuan.

China's producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went up 10.7 percent year-on-year in September, according to the NBS.

China has set its consumer inflation target at approximately 3 percent for the year 2021, according to this year's government work report.