Economy

China vegetable prices slightly lower: report

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-11-17 06:19

A vendor arranges bags of onions at a market in Yinchuan, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Nov 16, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - The prices of 18 types of vegetables in China for the week ending November 14 were slightly lower, down by 0.8 percent compared to the previous week, a weekly report by the country's Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.

For example,  Chinese cabbage and radishes were among the vegetables that saw big falls in prices, dropping 7.1 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively.

However, on a year-on-year basis, the prices of 18 staple vegetables in the first 10 days this month were still significantly higher from one year earlier, highlighting the pressure China faces in managing inflation, which soared to a 25-month high of 4.4 percent in October.

Meanwhile, prices of meat for the past week have been rising, the report showed, with prices of pork and mutton up 1.6 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Also, prices of eggs rose 0.9 percent, while prices of rice and flour rose 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

The price of food, which accounts for one-third of weighting in the calculation of China's consumer price index (CPI), a major gauge of inflation, jumped 10.1 percent in October, pushing the index to a new high in more than two years after rising 3.6 percent in September.

Additionally, the government has set a target to maintain the annual inflation rate to remain under 3 percent.