BEIJING — China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.5 percent year-on-year in August, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Sept 9.

On a monthly basis, August's CPI remained stable, reversing the 0.5-percent rise in July to edge down 0.1 percent, thanks to efforts to contain COVID-19 and extreme weather impacts, as well as efforts to ensure sufficient supply and stable prices, noted Dong Lijuan, a senior statistician with the NBS.

Food prices went up 0.5 percent month-on-month, which raised the monthly consumer inflation by about 0.1 percentage points.

Specifically, the price of pork, a staple meat in China, inched up 0.4 percent in August, contracting 25.2 percentage points over the previous month, as hog slaughter activities returned to normal and consumer demand saw a seasonal weakening, Dong said.

Non-food prices rose 1.7 percent year-on-year, lifting the yearly consumer inflation by about 1.38 percentage points.

The prices of gasoline and diesel reported year-on-year growths of 20.2 percent and 21.9 percent, respectively.

The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, gained 0.8 percent year-on-year in August, staying flat from the growth pace logged in July.

Data on Sept 9 also showed that China's producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went up 2.3 percent year-on-year in August.