BEIJING, July 10 (Xinhua) -- China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.7 percent year on year in June, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Wednesday.

The reading, in line with market expectations, remained unchanged from the expansion in May.

For the first half of this year, CPI increased 2.2 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the NBS.

Food prices grew 8.3 percent year on year last month, up from 7.7 percent in May, while non-food prices gained 1.4 percent, 0.2 percentage points lower than that of May.

The CPI in urban and rural areas both registered a 2.7-percent growth year on year.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices edged down 0.1 percent last month.