Consumer inflation jumps 6.9 percent

China's consumer inflation jumped to its highest level in 11 years in November due to rising food prices, official figures showed on Tuesday, adding to pressure for a sixth interest rate hike this year.

The Consumer Price Index, a barometer of inflation, jumped 6.9 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement on its website. The gauge had hit a decade high of 6.5 percent in August, before easing to 6.2 percent in September and rebounding to 6.5 percent in October.

Food prices remain the key driving forces behind the rise in November, jumping 18.2 percent. Among food items, pork saw the biggest price increases, skyrocketing 56 percent, followed by a 38.8 percent rise in poultry products. Non-food items went up 1.4 percent.

Adding to the price pressure, the Producer Price Index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level, jumped 4.6 percent in November, the biggest monthly increase in more than two years.

Price hikes may force the central bank to raise the interest rates for the sixth time this year.

Earlier this month, the country's top leaders made curbing inflation a priority next year and have decided to adopt a "tight" monetary policy, the first shift from a "prudent" one in 10 years.

During the weekend, the central bank announced a one percent hike in the bank reserve ratio to 14.5 percent, the highest level since 1985. That was the 10th increase this year.