China's farm produce prices continue to rise

The prices of farm produce in 36 major Chinese cities continued to climb last week, according to official data released Tuesday.

A Ministry of Commerce statement said that the wholesale prices of 18 kinds of vegetables went up 1.2 percent in the week ending Aug. 4 compared with the week earlier.

The price of eggs rose 0.5 percent week on week, the price of pork, the country's staple meat, gained 1.5 percent and the cost of peanut oil increased 0.1 percent, the ministry said.

Meanwhile,the average wholesale prices of eight aquatic products dropped 0.2 percent from a week earlier, according to the ministry.

The cost of food accounts for about one-third of the prices used to calculate China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation.

Latest official data has shown that the CPI grew 2.4 percent year on year in the first half. Experts predict that the CPI may rise around 2.8 percent in July.