2nd LD-Writethru: China's CPI up 1.8 pct in December

BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 1.8 percent year on year in December, slightly up from 1.7 percent for November, data showed Wednesday.

Previous forecasts from financial institutions fell within the 1.7 percent to 2.1 percent range.

The pickup was driven by a fast increase in non-food prices, which rose 2.4 percent year on year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on its website.

Prices for medical products and services rose 6.6 percent year on year and housing-related prices rose 2.8 percent, while educational, cultural and entertainment prices rose 2.1 percent, the bureau said.

Food prices dropped 0.4 percent year on year, contributing to a 0.08-percentage-point drop in the overall CPI increase.

On a month-on-month basis, the December CPI increased 0.3 percent from November, as food prices rose 1.1 percent from November.

In 2017, CPI rose 1.6 percent year on year, faster than 1.5 percent for the first 11 months of last year but slower than the 2 percent for 2016.

The annual figure is well below the government's target to hold the CPI increase at around 3 percent.

China Galaxy Securities said that food prices in 2018 will hold steady while non-food prices, especially service prices, will go up.

The annual CPI rise will reach 2 percent this year, the brokerage firm said. Enditem