China's consumer prices were up 1.3 percent in August over a year ago, said the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday.

The growth rate was 0.3 percentage points higher than in July, said an NBS report.
Food prices rose year on year by 1.4 percent, and service prices increased by 2.3 percent.

In August, prices of grain and medical services were up 3.1 percent each from August 2005.

Meanwhile, prices of medicines were down 1.7 percent, transport vehicles down 2.6 percent and communication equipment down 17.6 percent.

From January to August, China's consumer prices rose 1.2 percent from the same period last year.

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