BEIJING - China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, grew 1.3 percent year on year in August, down from July's 1.8 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Friday. 

The August data dropped for the fourth-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 0.1 percent in August. 

NBS statistician Yu Qiumei attributed the moderated inflation largely to eased food prices. 

The price of pork rose 6.4 percent year on year in August, slowing from 16.1-percent rise registered in July. 

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.