July 19, 2011

Weekly pork price gains ease in China

China's pork prices rose 0.2% in the week to July 17, but the price growth fell by 2.1 percentage points and was the slowest in 10 weeks, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced Monday (Jul 18).

The growth rate has declined in each of the last four weeks and was the slowest since the average pork prices rose 0.1% in the week to May 8, the ministry's data showed.

High pork prices have become a big concern for the nation as the consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, shot up to a three-year high of 6.4% last month, driven by surging food prices.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed pork prices in June surged 57.1% on-year.

Prices of beef and chicken rose slightly, by 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.

Prices of flour and rice both rose 0.4%; egg prices also rose 0.4%. Meanwhile, prices of eight types of aquatic products rose 1%.

Premier Wen Jiabao said last week that stabilising prices remains the top priority for China's macro-regulatory policies.

To contain stubbornly high inflation, the central bank has so far raised the benchmark interest rates three times this year. It also hiked the reserve requirement ratio six times, ordering banks to keep a record high of 21.5% of their deposits in reserve to rein in excess lending.