BEIJING — China’s consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.5 percent year-on-year in September, compared with 2.3 percent for August, official data showed on Oct 16.

The pickup was driven by a fast increase in non-food prices, which rose 2.2 percent year on year, contributing to a 1.78-percentage-point increase in the overall CPI increase, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on its website.

Prices for medical products and services rose 2.7 percent year on year, transport and communications prices gained 2.8 percent, while educational, cultural and entertainment prices rose 2.2 percent.

Food prices rose 3.6 percent year on year, contributing to a 0.69-percentage-point increase in the overall CPI increase.

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

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

The average year-on-year CPI growth for the first nine months stood at 2.1 percent, compared with 2 percent for the first eight months.

The producer price index, which measures costs of goods at the factory gate, rose 3.6 percent year-on-year in September, slowing from the 4.1-percent increase in August.