BEIJING - The Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday that the country's farm produce prices continued to rise last week while producer goods prices fell for a fourth consecutive week.

The wholesale prices of 18 staple vegetables rose 7.9 percent week-on-week last week, and were up 27.8 percent from early November. Prices of eggplant, green peppers and white gourds jumped 17.3 percent, 17 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively, from one week earlier, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The price of meat also rose slightly, with pork prices up 1.1 percent. Beef prices rose 0.5 percent and mutton prices rose 0.4 percent.

In contrast, the country's producer goods prices slid last week, indicating that the producer price index (PPI), a major gauge of inflation at the wholesale level, may drop in the months to come.

Prices of non-ferrous metals fell 2.4 percent week-on-week, while steel prices decreased for a fourth consecutive week and were down 1.2 percent from mid-November, the statement said.

China's PPI fell to 2.7 percent in November, and its consumer price index softened to 4.2 percent, after reaching a 37-month high of 6.5 percent in July.