May 23, 2012

China's edible farm produce prices plunge by May 20

In the week ending May 20, China's edible farm produce prices dropped further compared with the previous week, the Ministry of Commerce reported Tuesday (May 22).

With mass supply coming onto the market, the wholesale price of 18 staple vegetables fell 6.1% last week, with the decline expanding 2.5 percentage points from a week earlier.

Meat prices fluctuated moderately, with wholesale prices of pork dipping 1% on a week on weak base.

Last week, retail prices of eggs edged down 0.1% from the preceding week and slumped 10.1% from the beginning of this year.

Retail prices of soyoil began to fall after six-week rise and decreased 0.2% last week while peanut oil and rapeseed oil rose 0.3% and 0.2% respectively from the previous week.

Food prices have a one-third weighting in the calculation of China's consumer price index (CPI), a major gauge of inflation. China's CPI rose 3.4% on-year in April, easing slightly from the 3.6% rate registered in March.