Consumers select vegetables at a market in Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province, Oct 14, 2011.[Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING-- China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, will ease for a third consecutive month in October, economists said.

China's CPI is likely to fall to 5.5 percent in October, due to falling food prices, said Yuan Gangming, a researcher at the Institute of Economic Research under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, the wholesale prices of 18 staple vegetables fell 2.2 percent during the last week of October, while prices of pork and eggs dropped by 1 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

In addition to lower food prices, declines in world commodity prices and weakening tail-raising factors will also contribute to the CPI's decline, said Lian Ping, chief economist for the Bank of Communications.

Lian said he expects the country's CPI to stand at 4 percent in December, with the full-year CPI reaching 5.5 percent.

China's CPI has reached a turning point and will be kept below 5 percent during the last two months of the year, said Peng Sen, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission.

The National Bureau of Statistics will release the October CPI on Wednesday.