China's consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, rose 5.5 percent year-on-year in October, weakening from September's 6.1 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Wednesday.

The October CPI growth marked the slowest surge since May this year, softening from 6.1 percent in September, 6.2 percent in August, 6.5 percent in July and 6.4 percent in June.

On a monthly basis, the cost of living added 0.1 percent in October,said the NBS in a statement at its website.

Food prices, which account for nearly one third of the basket of goods in the nation's CPI calculation, moved up 11.9 percent in October from a year earlier but dipped 0.2 percent month-on-month, according to the NBS.

Prior to the NBS announcement, many economists expected the October CPI to rise by 5.4 percent year-on-year.

China's CPI hit a 37-month high of 6.5 percent in July this year, which was far above the Chinese government's full-year target of 4 percent for 2011.

China's Producer Price Index (PPI), a major measure of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 5 percent in October year-on-year.

(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2011)