China's consumer market remained generally stable in May, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) up 1.2% year on year, according to data released Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

On a monthly basis, the CPI fell 0.1%, mainly due to lower energy and service prices, said Dong Lijuan, chief statistician at the NBS.

The decline was partly driven by changes in fuel prices. Following a sharp increase in April, domestic gasoline prices fell 0.3% in May as international oil prices eased. As a result, gasoline's contribution to monthly CPI changed from contributing 0.39 percentage points in April to reducing it by 0.01 percentage point in May, Dong Lijuan said.

Service prices also softened after the May Day holiday travel peak. While service prices rose 0.5% in April, they fell 0.1% in May.

Food prices declined 0.4% from a year earlier, although the pace of decline narrowed by 1.2 percentage points compared with the previous month. Pork prices fell 1.6% as supply remained abundant.

Meanwhile, China's Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures factory-gate prices, rose 3.9% year-on-year and 0.5% month on month, supported by stronger demand in certain domestic industries and the transmission of fluctuations in global commodity prices.

Dong Lijuan attributed the increase in producer prices partly to industrial upgrading and equipment renewal efforts. Prices in the ferrous metal smelting and rolling sector rose 1.2% month on month as manufacturing equipment upgrades continued.

Seasonal demand also contributed to higher prices in some industries. Demand for coal increased ahead of the summer peak electricity consumption season and for non-power uses. At the same time, volatility in international crude oil prices affected related domestic industries, causing price gains to moderate or decline in some sectors, Dong Lijuan said.