Rain-triggered farm produce price rise continues

BEIJING - China's farm produce prices continued to rise last week in the wake of strong rainfall across the country, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Wednesday.

The wholesale prices of 18 types of vegetables in 36 cities rose for the third consecutive week, jumping 5.7 percent week on week, with the prices of lettuce, cabbage and cucumber up 30.3 percent, 18.8 percent and 17.9 percent, respectively, according to the MOC.

Last week, the retail price of eggs rose 0.6 percent from a week earlier, but remained down 5.4 percent from the same period last year.

The price of pork, a staple meat in China, dropped 0.4 percent from a week earlier, the ministry said.

Prices of beef, lamb and chicken were up 0.7 percent, 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, said the ministry.

Food prices account for nearly one-third of the prices used to calculate China's consumer price index (CPI), which eased to 2.2 percent in June, its lowest level since January 2010.

The National Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to release its July CPI data on Thursday.