Customers shop in the produce section of a supermarket in Qingzhou, Shandong province, on Nov 10, 2021. (WANG JILIN/FOR CHINA DAILY)

BEIJING, – China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 1.5 percent year-on-year in December, down from the 2.3-percent increase a month ago, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.

The CPI in 2021 climbed 0.9 percent, well below the country's annual target of approximately 3 percent. Consumer prices rose 2.5 percent and 2.9 percent in 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Breaking down the inflation data in December, food prices dropped 1.2 percent from a year ago, reversing the 1.6-percent rise in November

Breaking down the inflation data in December, food prices dropped 1.2 percent from a year ago, reversing the 1.6-percent rise in November. 

The price of pork, a staple meat in China, slumped 36.7 percent, 4 percentage points greater than a month ago, while the prices of other farm produce from vegetables to fish and eggs registered smaller increases.

Non-food prices rose 2.1 percent from a year earlier, eased from the 2.5 percent in November.

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

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In this undated file photo, a plastic packaging assembly line is examined at a small factory in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province. (GENG YUHE / FOR CHINA DAILY)

The slower expansion of PPI last month was due to the implementation of policies to ensure supply and stabilize prices of energy and raw materials including crude and coal, said senior NBS statistician Dong Lijuan

The producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went up 10.3 percent year on year in December, according to NBS data.   

The figure shrunk from the 12.9 percent year-on-year increase registered in November.

For the full year of 2021, China's PPI rose 8.1 percent year on year, NBS data showed.

The slower expansion of PPI last month was due to the implementation of policies to ensure supply and stabilize prices of energy and raw materials, said senior NBS statistician Dong Lijuan.

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Weaker demand for construction materials such as cement and steel during the winter season, as well as declines in international commodity prices, also contributed to the slowdown of PPI growth, Dong added.

Specifically, coal processing prices fell 15.4 percent month on month in December, widening from the 8.4-percent decline registered in November. Oil exploitation prices dropped 8.3 percent in December from a month ago.

However, prices of liquified natural gas, electricity and heating rose last month.