China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 4.6 percent in December year on year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Thursday.

The CPI was up 3.3 percent in 2010 from the previous year, the NBS said.

The prices of food, which accounts for a third of the basket of goods in China's CPI calculation, surged 7.2 percent year on year in 2010.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2011)