China's consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, in 2010 will not exceed 3.5 percent year on year, Yao Jingyuan, chief economist at the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said Tuesday.

Although the three-percent full year inflation target set by the government at the beginning of 2010 is achievable, it may be difficult to accomplish, Yao said at a forum in Beijing.

Amid rising inflationary pressures, China's CPI rose to a 23-month high of 3.6 percent in September, up from 3.5 percent in August, 3.3 percent in July and 2.9 percent in June, the NBS said in October.

Yao identified food as the major contributor to inflationary pressures, saying it has accounted for about 70 percent of recent price increases.