Galloping food prices pushed up China's consumer price index by 5.6 percent in July. As we see now, it was the highest recorded rate in more than a decade.

The unexpectedly large jump from 4.4 percent in June to 5.6 percent in July reflects a spike in food prices caused by a shortage of pig stocks and flooding across large parts of China.

The figure, which easily beat market forecasts of 4.9 percent, was the highest since February 1997. The price of food, which makes up a third of the consumer basket, rose 15.4 percent in July from a year earlier.

But annual inflation in non-food items actually dipped to 0.9 percent from 1 percent. The dip indicates that China is not yet transmitting extra inflationary pressures to the world economy. Food accounts for just 3 percent of the country's export.

Industry insiders say the number is higher than expected and will add to the overall perceived difficulty that central bankers globally are facing. But they also say this is entirely a domestic dynamic occurring in China.