China's Consumer Price Index (CPI) is likely to grow 1.9 percent in August from a year earlier, up slightly from the 1.6 percent recorded in July, an industry report said on Thursday.

The official CPI for August is due to be released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Sept. 10.

Annual CPI growth will be well below the 3-percent target, said the report from the Bank of Communications.

The report attributed the expected CPI growth to rising food prices, which account for around one-third of the weighting in CPI calculation, especially the increasing prices of pork, vegetables and eggs.

Since 2015, pork prices have been driven up as a result of a decline in the number of pigs being bred. Low prices last year and the rising price of feed have made pig farmers less willing to raise pigs.

In July, pork prices, up 16.7 percent from a year ago, were the main driver of food inflation and contributed 0.48 percentage points to the CPI growth of 1.6 percent, a nine-month high.