China's Consumer Price Index in March unchanged at 2.3%

People select vegetable at a supermarket in Xingtai city, North China's Hebei province, Feb 17, 2016.[Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - China's consumer prices grew 2.3 percent in March from one year earlier, the same as in February, official data showed Monday.

The consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, shrank 0.4 percent in March from February, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

NBS statistician Yu Qiumei attributed the inflation growth mostly to high vegetable and pork prices.

Pork prices jumped sharply by 28.4 percent year on year, contributing 0.64 percentage points of CPI growth, while vegetable prices skyrocketed by 35.8 percent, accounting for 0.92 percentage points of CPI growth.

Food prices soared 7.6 percent year on year while non-food inflation edged up 1 percent in March.