June 28, 2012

Farm produce prices continue to decline in China

In the week ending June 24, the prices of farm produce in China remained on a declining state, declared the Ministry of Commerce at a press conference on Tuesday (June 22).

With a persistent increase of supply, vegetable prices have fallen for seven consecutive weeks. Last week, average wholesale prices of vegetables dipped 1.7% from a week earlier, noted Shen Danyang, a spokesman for the ministry.

Underpinned by the state stockpiling policy, pork prices had halted the decline that started in early February and begun to rebound. Wholesale prices of pork edged up 0.7% last week.

Grain and oils prices gained slightly, boosted by a decrease of market supply, rising demand and mounting cost, said Shen.

China's Consumer Price Index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, eased to 3% in May, the lowest level since June 2010. Food prices accounted for nearly one-third of the weighting in calculating the CPI.