People select vegetables at a supermarket in Huimin County, east China's Shandong Province, July 10, 2023. (Photo by Chu Baorui/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 0.2 percent in July compared with that in June, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Wednesday.

In breakdown, the food prices declined 1 percent month on month, but the prices of non-food items rose 0.5 percent on a monthly basis.

The NBS statistician Dong Lijuan attributed the monthly increase to continued recovery of consumer demand.

On a yearly basis, the country's CPI declined 0.3 percent due to a high base in the corresponding period of 2022, according to Dong.

The core CPI, deducting food and energy prices, rose 0.8 percent year on year, with the pace of increase widening by 0.4 percentage points compared with that in June.

The average CPI from January to July increased by 0.5 percent year on year.