(Yicai Global) May 10 -- China's consumer and producer prices, two main gauges of inflation, continued to decline on a monthly basis in April following the Lunar New Year holidays, but registered annual and quarterly gains.

Both indexes dipped 0.2 percent from the previous month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Lower food costs helped to dampen consumer prices, according to Sheng Guoqing, a senior analyst at the NBS. Consumer inflation fell for a second straight month. Wholesale prices fell the same amount as in the previous month, with raw materials easing 0.2 percent and that of daily necessities 0.1 percent, he added.

China is targeting consumer inflation of around 3 percent this year, the same as in 2017, Premier Li Keqiang said in the government's work report released in March.

Compared with a year earlier, the Consumer Price Index rose 1.8 percent, while the Producer Price Index jumped 3.4 percent, the first gain in seven months because of higher commodity prices.

In the first quarter, consumer prices edged 2.1 percent higher as factory prices climbed 3.6 percent, showing a stable increasing trend for both.

Editor: Emmi Laine