China's farm produce prices continue to rise

BEIJING - Farm produce prices continued to rise last week as rainy weather in South China disrupted vegetable supplies, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Tuesday.

The average prices of 30 kinds of vegetables increased 3.9 percent last week, with prices of Chinese cabbage, pepper and white gourd soaring 17.2 percent, 13.3 percent and 13.1 percent week on week, respectively, in a sample of 36 Chinese cities, the MOC said in a statement on its website.

Grain prices remained stable while egg prices were down 1.3 percent from the previous week.

Prices of pork rose 0.6 percent, while beef and mutton prices were down 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent, according to the statement.

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

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 1.4 percent last year, a six-year low.