BEIJING — China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 0.9 percent year-on-year in January, down from the 1.5-percent increase a month ago, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Feb 16.

A breakdown of the data showed that food prices dropped 3.8 percent year-on-year, a decline 2.6 percentage points higher than that in December 2021.

The price of pork, a staple meat in China, slumped 41.6 percent year-on-year, compared with a 36.7-percent decrease a month ago.

Non-food prices rose 2 percent from a year earlier, eased from the 2.1-percent increase reported in the previous month.

The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, gained 1.2 percent year-on-year, flat with a month ago.

The data released on Feb 16 also showed the country's producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went up 9.1 percent year-on-year in January.