China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, would probably only increase moderately in 2010, an official with China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in Beijing on Monday.

Although China's CPI continued to climb in previous months, it was not likely to surge this year as supplies were abundant, Wei Guixiang, head of the Department of Urban Social and Economic Survey of the NBS, said Monday during an exclusive interview with xinhuanet.com, a website run by Xinhua.

China's CPI rose 1.5 percent year-on-year in January, mainly boosted by food price increases due to the cold winter weather.

The gauge in January was 0.6 percent up compared with last December, said the NBS.

"China's housing demand continues its strong run, but the rate of increase may slow due to an array of government measures," Gui added.

Official figures revealed that housing prices in China's 70 large and medium-sized cities rose 9.5 percent in January 2010 from a year earlier, and were up 1.3 percent compared to the previous month.

(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2010)