BEIJING - China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, grew 2 percent year on year in November, the National Bureau of Statistics announced Sunday.

The inflation rate rose from a 33-month low of 1.7 percent in October as food prices increased.

On a month-on-month basis, November's CPI rose 0.1 percent from the previous month, according to a statement posted on the website of the NBS.

Alocal resident buys fruit at a market in Yinchuan, the capital of Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Dec 5, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

"The November growth rate was largely attributable to a surge in food costs," said Wang Jun, an expert with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

Food prices, which account for nearly one-third of the weighting in the calculation of China's CPI, rose 3 percent in November from one year earlier, pushing the index up 0.95 percentage points.

Vegetable prices jumped 11.3 percent year on year in November as cold weather disrupted supplies, pushing the CPI up 0.27 percentage points. Prices for aquatic products gained 4.9 percent from one year earlier, according to the statement.

Excluding food prices, China's CPI edged up 1.6 percent.

Wang forecast that China's economy will expand by 7.8 percent in 2012 and that the CPI will reach around 2.8 percent for the entire year, well below the government's target of keeping inflation under 4 percent.

"A combination of low inflation and modest economic growth is surely a desirable outcome for China in the difficult year of 2012," according to Wang.

Related stories：

China's November PPI drops 2.2%

Inflation expected to rebound in Nov: experts

PBOC governor stresses price stability

Experts urge focus on mending social disparity, curbing inflation

China's Nov PMI seen hitting 7-month high