BEIJING - China is expected to import more pork in the future if the domestic price of the country's staple meat continues to rise, experts said.

China's consumer price index, an important gauge of inflation, increased 6.5 percent in July above what it had been a year ago, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The inflation rate, driven primarily by increasing food costs, is at its highest point in 37 months. A big contributor to that increase has been the price of pork, which was nearly 57 percent higher in July than it had been a year ago, according to official figures.