Prices of pork and eggs kept soaring over past weeks on Chinese market due largely to tightened supply and increasing production cost.

Sources with the Ministry of Agriculture said on Wednesday that if the prices remain high, the country's consumer price index (CPI), a major indicator for inflation, will be affected. CPI reached the alarm level of three percent in April.

A consumer walks past a pork booth at a market in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu province May 23, 2007. China is planning to set up a "meat reserve" if the domestic pork and poultry prices keep rising, media reported on Wednesday, days after pork hit a record high in parts of China. [Reuters]

Food products account for 33 percent of CPI in China, and meat, poultry and related products, about 20 percent.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in April live pigs nationwide were priced 71.3 percent higher than a month earlier, and pork, 29.3 percent higher.

In Beijing, price of slaughered pigs went up more than 30 percent in recent days, while that of eggs rose to record high for past five years.

Wholesale price of pork in Shanghai has hit 16 yuan (2.1 U.S. dollars) per kilogram, a record high for recent 10 years, up 20 percent month-on-month.

The wholesale price was even higher in Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province.

"I bought the pork at 17 yuan per kilogram from a distributor on Monday, and the price kept changing day by day. I have no other choice but raise retail price," complained Jin Qiuhua, a local retailer, at a pork stand in a marketplace of Maolang Lane, Hangzhou.

"I've sold pork for more than 20 years, such a continuous price hike was only seen in 1994," said Lu Youzhong, another pork retailer in the city.

1

2

3

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)