China's consumer inflation accelerated in January on surging food prices, adding pressure for the government to tackle escalating inflation amid the nation's spreading winter drought.

The consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 4.9 percent in January year on year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Tuesday.

The figure is 0.3 percentage points higher than that of December.

Food prices soared 10.3 percent year on year.