2011-03-08 16:42

BEIJING -- Most farm produce prices in China continued to rise in the week ending March 6, but generally at a slower rate compared to the previous week, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said in a report released on Tuesday.

Retail prices of rice rose 0.6 percent week on week while flour prices went up 0.2 percent from the previous week.

Retail prices of meat were mixed due to weakening demand, the report said. Pork prices went up 0.4 percent, while the prices of mutton and beef both slid 0.2 percent from the previous week, and chicken prices dropped 0.1 percent.

Cooking oil prices rose, with soybean oil and rapeseed oil both up 0.2 percent and peanut oil up 0.1 percent.

Prices of 18 staple vegetables, however, rose sharply in the week, with wholesale prices on average rising 1.7 percent week on week, compared with 0.5 percent the previous week.

For the week, eggplant prices rose the most by 9.4 percent from the previous week.

Retail prices of eggs fell 0.9 percent from previous week thanks to more supply and a drop in demand.

China's consumer price index (CPI), a major gauge of inflation, rose 4.9 percent in January from one year earlier, pushed up by a 10.3-percent surge in food prices, which account for about one third of weighting in the CPI calculation.

The National Bureau of Statistics has yet to release the February CPI figure but many institutions expect it to be around 4.8 percent.

The Chinese government aims to hold inflation to around 4 percent for the year.