BEIJING, Oct. 14 -- China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, grew 1.9 percent year on year in September, up from August's 1.3 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) announced Friday.

The September data dropped for the fifth-consecutive month from 2.3 percent in April, when the CPI reached its highest level since July 2014.

On a month-on-month basis, the CPI rose 0.7 percent in September.

NBS statistician Yu Qiumei attributed the moderated growth of inflation in September largely to rising food prices.

The price of vegetables and fruit rose 7.5 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively, year on year in September, compared with 3.9-percent and 0.6-percent drop registered in August.

In addition, the price of services also increased in September, with education services price rising 3.2 percent year on year, compared with 2.2-percent rise in August.

Since January 2016, CPI has been calculated using a new comparison base and included more products and services, while slightly reducing the weighting of food.