China's consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.9 percent in January year-on-year, figure from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday.

In a monthly report, the bureau said that CPI in urban and rural areas in January grew 1.4 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively.

NBS figures indicated that in January, the prices of food items rose 4 percent, while those of non-food items, consumption products and services grew 0.8 percent, 1.8 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively.

Grain prices surged 14.2 percent in January year-on-year, leading the price hike of food items followed by those of eggs at 10.5 percent, meat and poultry at 9.3 percent and aquatics at 8.9 percent.

However, the prices of vegetables plummeted 10.2 percent while the prices of edible oil dipped 1.5 percent, the figures showed.

Meanwhile, the prices of clothing were down 1.6 percent, household apparatus and maintenance services 1 percent, medical care 0.8 percent, and means of transportation and communications 2.6 percent.

In January, the prices of residence rose 5.5 percent, of which the prices of water, electricity and fuel were up 10 percent and housing rental charges up 2.2 percent.

The State Development and Reform Commission predicted that CPI was expected to grow about four percent in 2005. China's CPI rose 3.9 percent in 2004.

(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2005)