The inflation rate was down slightly from 6.5 per cent in August - the highest monthly rate in 11 years - propelled by a double-digit rise in food prices, including pork, the country's staple meat.

But the figure still well exceeds the government's target rate of 3 per cent. Higher prices on agricultural goods also lifted prices in September.

The inflation rate for the first nine months of the year was 4.1 per cent, said Mr Zhu Zhixin, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning body.

'We estimate that the increase in consumer prices in China will be high for a long time,' Mr Zhu told a news conference on the sidelines of a Communist Party congress.

The central bank has already said it expects the inflation rate for the year to exceed the government's 3 per cent target.

China announced earlier this month that the trade surplus, a key source of domestic liquidity, remained high at US$23.91 billion (S$35 billion) in September. -- AP