Pork prices up after weeks of declines

BEIJING - Pork prices rebounded last week, rising 0.2 percent from one week earlier after weeks of decline, but were still down 14.9 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.

Shanghai and Beijing saw pork prices rise 3.7 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, last week, according to a statement on the ministry's website.

Prices of edible oil, flour and fish all increased last week. Retail egg prices continued to rise, up 1.3 percent week-on-week, but wholesale egg prices fell 0.8 percent last week, the statement said.

Lower fuel prices dragged transportation costs down, which led to the decline in wholesale egg prices, analysts said, adding that retail egg prices will also fall slightly after the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival holiday.

Due to abundant supplies, the wholesale prices of 18 types of staple vegetables fell 3.3 percent week on week, and were down 25.6 percent cumulatively from the start of May.

Prices of eggplant, celery and white gourd dropped 13.3 percent, 8.4 percent and 8.2 percent, respectively, according to the statement.

China's consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, eased to 3 percent in May, the lowest level since June 2010. Food prices account for nearly one-third of the weighting in calculating the CPI.