Fruit prices jumped more than 40 percent and pork prices increased over 20 percent in June year-on-year, becoming the two major culprits causing a 2.7-percent rise of China's consumer price index (CPI), official data showed on Wednesday.

According to a statement released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday, domestic pork prices increased 21.1 percent in June year-on-year, 2.9 percentage points higher than the previous month, and fruit prices soared 42.7 percent year-on-year, 16 percentage points higher than the previous month.

Dong Yaxiu, an NBS official, said in the statement that the domestic pork supply remains relatively tight, and for the fruit sector, in addition to the impact of climate and other factors, lower price levels in the same period 2018 were also one of the major reasons for the hefty increase of fruit prices.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on July 1 said at a press conference that the price of pork was being driven up by a shortage of livestock, though the African swine fever has been largely contained and restrictions on 25 affected provinces have all been lifted.

Liu Xuezhi, an economist at the Bank of Communications, told the Global Times on Wednesday that rising food prices are the main drive behind the upsurge in CPI in June, including the price of fruit and pork

"Pork price will be the main factor for the rising CPI within the year," Liu said, adding that the price of fruit, in the contrary, will drop in the following months as the supply of fruit is relatively abundant in the summer and autumn seasons.

The space for further rise of CPI is limited and there is no obvious inflation risk within the year, Liu concluded.

China's producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, is down 0.3 percent month-on-month, and remains flat year-on-year in June, down from a 0.6 percent increase the previous month.