China's consumer price index in September rose 2.5% year over year, from a 2.3% increase in August, led mainly by higher food prices, data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics showed.

Food prices climbed 3.6% year over year, contributing about 0.69 percentage point to the CPI increase while non-food prices rose 2.2% year over year, contributing about 1.78 percentage points to the increase.

The core consumer price index, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose 1.7% year over year, easing from the 2.0% gain in August.

The producer price index, a gauge of industrial profitability, rose 3.6% year over year in September compared with a 4.1% annual increase in August.

On a monthly basis, the PPI was up slightly at 0.6% in September from a 0.4% gain in August. The main source of increase came from the oil, coal and other fuel processing industries where prices rose 4.0% month over month from a 1.7% increase in August.

Prices also increased in chemical fiber manufacturing, oil and natural gas mining industry and chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing.