China's consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, fell 1.4 percent year on year in May, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Wednesday.

This marks the fourth consecutive monthly decline since the index dropped 1.6 percent in February, the first fall since October 2002.

The index recorded a month-on-month decrease of 0.3 percent, according to NBS.

Food prices, which comprise one-third of the CPI, dropped 0.6 percent, as pork prices continued to drop by 32 percent on oversupply and concerns that the A/H1N1 influenza virus was connected to pigs.

Non-food prices fell 1.7 percent.

The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, dropped 1.3 percent year on year, said NBS.

The Chinese government set a full-year inflation target of 4 percent for 2009.

Editor: Yan