BEIJING, July 10 -- China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, came in flat in June compared with the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.

The figure was lower than the 0.2-percent increase in May.

In breakdown, food prices rose 2.3 percent from a year earlier while prices of non-food items edged down 0.6 percent year on year.

On a monthly basis, the prices were slightly down by 0.2 percent.

"In June, the CPI was generally stable," said NBS statistician Dong Lijuan.