China's farm produce prices continue to dip

BEIJING, May 22 (Xinhua) -- China's farm produce prices continued to fall in the week ending May 20, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

The price index for farm produce dipped 0.8 percent in the past week, compared with a 0.9-percent decline in the previous week. The index for production materials edged up 0.4 percent.

The average wholesale price of 30 kinds of vegetables dropped 2.3 percent from a week earlier. The wholesale price of pork, the country's staple meat, slipped 0.7 percent from a week earlier. The price of beef edged down 0.7 percent while that of lamb fell 0.5 percent.

The wholesale price of eggs went down 1.2 percent.

Food accounts for about one-third of China's consumer price index (CPI).

China's CPI rose 1.8 percent year on year last month, compared with 2.1 percent for March, as abundant food supplies kept inflation mild. Enditem