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 Thursday.

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 health care 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.

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