China December CPI Climbs 2.5% On Year; PPI Falls 1.4% On Year

China's consumer price index climbed 2.5 percent in December from the previous, which was slower than the 3 percent on-year rise in the preceding month, according to Thursday data from the National Bureau of Statistics, Nasdaq.com reported.

China's producer prices fell 1.4 percent in December from a year earlier, the same as the previous month, Reuters reported.

The rise in the key inflation gauge matched the median 2.5 percent gain forecast by 13 economists in a Dow Jones Newswires survey, Nasdaq.com noted.

The CPI was up 2.6 percent for the year as a whole. It also rose 3 percen in December from November. In November, it dropped 0.1% from the previous month.

Food prices, the most volatile element of consumer price inflation, rose 4.1 percent on-year last month, compared with November's 5.9 percent on-year rise. Nonfood prices were up 1.7% in December, compared with the preceding month's 1.6% gain. China's inflation remains comfortably below the official target of keeping price rises to a maximum 3.5%.

The National Bureau of Statistics also said China's producer prices fell 1.4 percent in December from a year earlier, the same as the previous month.