BEIJING: China’s farm produce prices raised up 6.3 percent in 36 major cities last week as demand rises before spring festival, China Ministry of commerce (MOC) said in a statement.
From Feb 9 to 15, average prices for 18 monitored vegetables surged 6.3 percent from a week earlier, led by cow-peas, green peppers and cucumbers, MOC said .
Prices for chicken and eggs rose 1 percent and 0.5 percent respectively. The price of aquatic products rose 0.6 percent from the previous week, while beef and mutton prices both edged up slightly, the MOC said.
Higher demand for food products is typical around major festivals. The Spring Festival, or Chinese lunar New Year, is the most important traditional festival for family reunions. People will enjoy a week-long holiday from Wednesday to Feb 24.
Food prices account for 31.79 percent of the prices used to calculate the consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation.
The Consumer Price Index fell to 0.8 percent in January from 1.5 percent in December, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.
It was the first time that the CPI had retreated below 1 percent since 2009. It was also the lowest level since the global financial crisis in 2008, when the figure bottomed out at a decline of 0.8 percent.
