China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.5 percent year on year in January, the same as the previous month, official data revealed on Friday.

In breakdown, [Hong Kong Company Formation|Hong Kong Company Registration]inflation rose 2.6 percent in cities, and 2.2 percent in rural areas, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement.

Food prices, which account for roughly a third of CPI, rose 3.7 percent in January from a year ago, while prices of non-food products edged up 1.9 percent, NBS said.

On a month-to-month basis, January's CPI grew 1 percent from December of 2013. Food prices in January rose 2.4 percent from the previous month, while prices of non-food products edged up 0.3 percent.