China's farm produce prices continue to rise

Farm produce prices have continued to trend up in 36 large and medium-sized cities in China, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday. In the week ending Dec. 9, the wholesale price of 18 types of vegetables climbed 5.5 percent week on week, a milder rise from the 5.8 percent registered a week earlier, according to the ministry. Prices of green peppers, oil-seed rape and cucumbers surged 12.9 percent, 12.2 percent and 10.5 percent, respectively. The wholesale price of pork edged up 1.9 percent from a week ago, but declined 8.4 percent compared with the same period last year. Prices of beef and mutton also rose slightly -- by 1.3 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. The retail price of grain and edible oil remained almost flat, with prices of rice, colza oil and peanut oil each rising 0.2 percent, while the price of eggs climbed 0.4 percent, up for the third week straight. Food prices account for almost a third of the weighting in the nation's calculation of the consumer price index (CPI), the key gauge of inflation. China's CPI grew 2 percent year on year in November, up from a 33-month low of 1.7 percent in October, the National Bureau of Statistics announced on Sunday. Analysts believe the inflation rate was mainly driven up by rising food prices.