In November, China's consumer prices showed the slowest rate of growth in five years, increasing the possibility of more easing measures by the central bank.

China's consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, rose by 1.4 percent year on year in November, the slowest increase since November 2009, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on December 10.

Yu Qiumei, a senior NBS statistician, attributed the record-low inflation level to seasonal and international factors.

On a monthly basis, November's CPI dipped 0.2 percent against the previous month, while data remained flat in October.

For the first 10 months, inflation grew 2 percent year on year, well below the 3.5-percent full-year target set by the government.

Food prices, which account for about one third of the CPI calculation's weighting, rose 2.3 percent from a year ago in November, lifting CPI 0.77 percentage points, compared to 2.5 percent and 0.83 percentage points respectively in the previous month.

Meanwhile, China's factory gate price decline deepened in November as a slowing economy and housing market downturn weakened domestic demand for industrial goods.

The producer price index (PPI), which measures inflation at wholesale level, dropped 2.7 percent year on year in November, its largest fall in 18 months, the NBS said.

The factory gate prices in November decreased for a record 33rd month in a row. In the first 11 months, the country's PPI fell 1.8 percent year on year.

Yu attributed the drop to the lower prices of oil and natural gas; refined oil; and chemicals, which contributed to a 0.4-percentage-point fall in November's PPI reading.