Residents purchase fruits in a supermarket in Cangzhou, north China's Hebei Province, Nov. 8, 2014. China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, grew 1.6 percent year on year in October, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday. (Xinhua/Mou Yu)

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, grew 1.6 percent year on year in October, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.

The inflation index was in line with the consensus projection, and was the same as that of September, which was the lowest since January 2010.

On a monthly basis, October's consumer price index (CPI) was flat against the previous month, compared with September's 0.5-percent increase, the NBS said in a statement on its website.

For the first 10 months, inflation grew 2.1 percent year on year, well below the 3.5-percent full-year target set by the government.

Yu Qiumei, a senior NBS statistician, said higher food prices were the main contributor to CPI growth last month.

Food prices, which account for about one-third of the weighting in the CPI calculation, rose 2.5 percent from a year ago in October, lifting the CPI by 0.83 percentage points.

In the food category, the price of fresh fruit surged 15.2 percent, increasing the CPI by 0.3 percentage points. The price of eggs soared 16.4 percent, contributing 0.14 percentage points to the CPI.

The food inflation was offset by easing non-food inflation, which edged up 1.2 percent year on year in October. Subdued non-food inflation mainly came from falling fuel prices.

Last month, the price of gasoline and diesel dropped 5.6 percent and 7.8 percent year on year, respectively, as a result of China's cuts in the retail price of gasoline and diesel amid falling global commodity prices, Yu said.