China’s consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.1 percent year-on-year in July, compared with 1.9 percent for June, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Aug 9.

On a month-on-month basis, the CPI climbed 0.3 percent, according to the NBS data.

Non-food prices pushed the inflation rate higher, increasing 2.4 percent year-on-year and 0.3 percent month-on-month.

On a yearly basis, medical and healthcare prices ticked up 4.6 percent, transport and communications prices gained 3 percent, while costs of accommodation rose 2.4 percent. Educational, cultural and recreational prices increased 2.3 percent.

Food prices went up 0.5 percent year-on-year and edged up 0.1 percent month-on-month.

The price of pork, China’s staple meat, continued to slump in July, down 9.6 percent year-on-year, dragging down CPI growth by 0.24 percentage point. On a monthly basis, however, it registered a 2.9-percent increase, faster than the 1.1-percent rise in June.

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

The average year-on-year CPI growth for the January-July period stood at 2 percent, according to the NBS.

The producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, rose 4.6 percent year-on-year in July, slightly slowing from the 4.7-percent increase in June.