Farm produce prices continue to ebb

BEIJING - Farm produce prices continued the downward trend last week due to increasing vegetable supplies, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday.

The average price of 30 kinds of vegetables dipped 4.9 percent last week, with prices of capsicum, cabbage and broccoli plunging 12.6 percent, 11.6 percent and 11.5 percent week on week in a sample of 36 Chinese cities, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

Prices of pork were up 1 percent from one week earlier, while beef and mutton prices were unchanged.

Edible oil prices oscillated slightly. Peanut oil prices fell 0.2 percent but soybean oil prices edged up 0.1 percent.

Grain prices remained steady.

Food prices account for one-third of the weighting in the calculation of China's consumer price index (CPI).

The country aims to hold this year's consumer price growth at around 3 percent. The target is unchanged from that for 2015. China's CPI rose 2.3 percent in March.