China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 0.7 percent year on year in October, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.

On a monthly basis, the CPI was unchanged, according to the NBS. In the first 10 months of 2026, consumer prices rose 0.9 percent from a year earlier.

The year-on-year increase in October was mainly driven by higher non-food prices, which rose 1.5 percent, while food prices fell 2.9 percent, weighing on overall inflation.

Food, tobacco, alcohol and dining out prices declined 1.6 percent year on year, dragging down the CPI by 0.48 percentage points. Fresh vegetable prices dropped 16.9 percent and pork prices fell 8.6 percent, while egg prices rose 10.1 percent.

Among the other seven categories, six saw year-on-year price increases and one saw a decline. Transportation and communication prices led the gains with a 5.5 percent increase, followed by health care at 2.4 percent and other supplies and services at 1.8 percent. Housing-related costs fell 0.3 percent.

On a month-on-month basis, food, tobacco, alcohol and dining out prices fell 0.5 percent, dragging down the CPI by 0.16 percentage points. Transportation and communication, education, culture and recreation, and health care prices rose 1.0 percent, 0.3 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.