China's inflation rose less than expected in December and producer prices logged its weakest growth in more than a year as government stepped up measures to tackle pollution.

Consumer price inflation rose moderately to 1.8 percent from 1.7 percent in November, the National Bureau of Statistics cited by rttnews. The rate was forecast to rise to 1.9 percent.

Food prices fell 0.4 percent, following a 1.1 percent decrease in November. Meanwhile, non-food prices rose at a slightly slower pace of 2.4 percent.

For the whole year of 2017, inflation was 1.6 percent, which was well below the government's target of around 3 percent.