(LEAD) China's consumer inflation slows in Aug.

(ATTN: ADDS more info from para 5)
By Kim Young-gyo
HONG KONG, Sept. 9 (Yonhap) -- China's consumer price growth slowed in August amid Beijing's efforts to curb inflationary pressure facing the world's second-largest economy, government data showed Friday.
The country's consumer price index (CPI) expanded 6.2 percent last month from a year earlier, compared with a 36-month record high of 6.5 percent registered in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
China's inflation grew more than 5 percent for the fifth straight month and exceeded 6 percent for the third month in a row. The August tally is in line with forecasts by analysts, who cited stabilizing food prices.
Food prices surged 13.4 percent on-year in August, with non-food prices rising 3 percent. Compared to the previous month, food prices rose 0.6 percent, while non-food prices were up 0.2 percent.
Market watchers expected that inflation will continue to slow in the coming months due to the country's slowing growth and tightening monetary policy.
"We continue to call for a moderation of headline CPI in the months ahead as growth is expected to cool further," said Qu Hongbin, economist at HSBC Holdings Plc. "Notably, tightening is working well -- monetary growth has been well contained to a neutral range."
Qu expected that China's central bank will not loosen monetary policy, while further monetary tightening to curb inflationary pressures is probably not necessary.
China's producer price index (PPI), a major measure of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 7.3 percent year-on-year in August, lower than July's 7.5 percent increase.
Industrial production rose 13.5 percent in August from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said.