The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the consumer price index (CPI), an effective barometer for inflation, rose 3.5 percent in August. This represented a 22-month high and was 0.2 percentage points higher than in July.

The producer price index, a major measure of inflation at the wholesale level, rose by 4.3 percent in August from a year earlier, declining from July's 4.8-percent growth.

The CPI was largely driven by the ripple effect of last month's increase and a surge in food prices, said NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyun.

Vegetable prices, for example, soared 19.2 percent year on year in August, while those of grain leapt 12 percent as nationwide rainstorms disrupted agricultural production.

But the government's target of a sub-3-percent inflation rate for the entire year remains achievable, given ample grain supplies, he said.

After six straight years of bumper harvests, China has rich grain reserves at its disposal, said Fan Gang, Director of the National Economic Research Institute.

Meanwhile, the overcapacity in many industries also provides a cushion against inflation, he said.

But Liu Yuhui, a senior economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, struck a note of caution. The surges in international commodities prices will filter through China, adding to inflation in the country, he said.

In addition, labor costs are also on the rise as wage growth picks up pace, said Liu.