CHANGSHA -- Growth of China's consumer prices will continue to cool after slowing from this year's peak in July, the nation's top economic planner said Thursday.

Peng Sen, deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission, said the country's consumer prices have stabilized and were "generally controllable."

But he said maintaining price stability wouldn't be easy as price increases of farm produce and resources was inevitable given the rapid industrialization and urbanization in China.

Peng said the government should seek to control consumer price increases at a reasonable level, lower than the pace of economic growth and income rises.

The government should also better deal with the relationships between stabilizing prices and maintaining economic growth, market adjustment and government regulation, producers and consumers and between promoting pricing reform and stabilizing prices, he said.

The Chinese government has made containing price increases a top priority this year and has announced an array of targeted policies.

Although the government aimed to keep inflation at around 4 percent this year, the consumer price index rose 6.1 percent year-on-year in September, moderating from 6.2 percent in August and hit a 37-month high of 6.5 percent in July.

The country's GDP expanded 9.1 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of the year, marking the slowest pace in two years.