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China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 1.5 percent year on year in June, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.

The June expansion remained unchanged from May's reading, and increased from April's 1.2 percent and March's 0.9 percent. On a monthly basis, however, the CPI declined 0.2 percent, according to the bureau.

The NBS attributed the monthly decline in CPI to lower food prices, which dropped 1 percent month on month in June.

Fruit prices shed 4.2 percent month on month in June. Pork and vegetable prices fell 3.4 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

Year on year, food prices dropped 1.2 percent in June while non-food prices rose 2.2 percent.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the core CPI increased 2.2 percent year on year in June, compared with 2.1 percent in May.

Jiang Chao, chief economist at Haitong Securities, said the CPI may rise mildly in July, but on the whole inflation will hold steady.

China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, rose 5.5 percent year on year in June, flat with the pace in May, NBS data showed.

The steady price data reinforced views about stabilization in the world's second-largest economy. China's GDP grew 6.9 percent in the first quarter of the year, up from 6.8 percent in the last quarter of 2016 and the official target of around 6.5 percent set for the year.

China's monetary policy in 2017 is set to be "prudent and neutral" to keep appropriate liquidity levels and avoid large injections.