Jiangsu's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 3 percent year on year in May, the provincial team of the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.
The price of food, tobacco and alcohol such as fresh melons and fruits has a greater impact on the growth of the consumer prices.
The CPI in May was 0.2% higher than the previous month. Among them, the price of foodstuffs and tobacco with the highest weighting increased by 5.9%, and the price of non-food tobacco and alcohol rose by 1.9%.
Affected by factors such as reduced production of fruits in north China, insufficient stocks in south China, and reduced market supply in south China, the price of fresh melons was at a high level, rising 26.6%. Pork, fresh vegetables, eggs, and beef are also among the top gainers.
In May, the price of food, tobacco and alcohol fell by 0.1% from the previous month. Due to the large supply, the price of fresh vegetables fell by 4.7%. The price increase of the other seven categories of goods and services did not exceed 0.5%, and remained basically stable.
China's consumer price index rose 2.7 percent year-on-year in May.
The reading, in line with market expectations, accelerated from the 2.5-percent expansion in April.
Food prices climbed 7.7 percent year-on-year last month, up from 6.1 percent in April, according to the NBS.
Non-food prices gained 1.6 percent, 0.1 percentage points lower than that in April.
The CPI in urban areas rose 2.7 percent year-on-year, while that in rural areas went up 2.8 percent compared with a year ago, the NBS noted.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices remained flat last month, compared with the 0.1-percent increase seen in April.
