Among the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and cities of China, six saw a higher growth rate of consumer price index in August compared with the past month, while 23 saw a decline in CPI, according to recent data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. Hainan province posted the highest CPI growth at 3.2 percent, while Henan province registered the lowest growth at 1.8 percent in August.

As for the whole country, China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose by 2.5 percent year-on-year in August, following a 2.7 percent rise in the previous month, the NBS data showed.

Weak growth of food prices, especially fresh vegetables; a slowing down increase of pork prices; a dropping down of refined oil products prices and weak core CPI have all contributed to the lower-than-market-expectations August CPI performance, according to the team of Shen Xinfeng, chief macroeconomic analyst at Northeast Securities, financial news portal Economic View reported on Wednesday.

In despite of the unexpected downward trend in August, institutions believe China's CPI might witness an upward trend in September.

According to Ding Yujia, an analyst at Zhixin Investment Research Institute, consumption is accelerating at a recovery pace in September given the fading high temperature and the pushing up of Mid-Autumn Day and National Day holidays.

Wang Qing, chief macroeconomic researcher at Golden Credit Rating, said CPI in the food sector is expected to expand in September as pork and fresh vegetables prices rose in different degrees. While the low non-food prices in September will hold up the overall upward range of CPI, the analyst added.