China's farm produce prices continue to rise

BEIJING -- The prices of farm produce in 36 major Chinese cities continued to climb last week, according to official data on Wednesday.

The average wholesale prices of eight aquatic products gained 1.6 percent in the week ending Sept 22 compared with the week earlier, a Ministry of Commerce statement said.

The price of eggs rose 0.7 percent from the previous week.

The cost of beef went up 0.6 percent, chicken prices gained 0.3 percent, pork prices climbed 0.2 percent and the cost of mutton expanded 0.1 percent.

However, the average wholesale prices of 18 kinds of vegetables dropped 1.3 percent from a week earlier.

The price of kidney beans shrank 11.7 percent, the cost of aubergines, or eggplants, shed 7.4 percent and the price of tomatoes went down 5.2 percent.

The slump in the cost of vegetables was because it is high season for certain products, resulting in huge supply that pushed prices down.

The cost of food accounts for about one-third of the prices used to calculate China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation.

The CPI rose 2.6 percent year on year in August, down from 2.7 percent in July.