Wang Qilu looked out from his street-side fruit and vegetable stall and sighed.

"Business is getting worse," he said, his eyes downcast. "Prices keep going up and fewer people are buying."

After 15 years of menial jobs, including work as a street cleaner and coal miner, the stall had provided the 41-year-old with a safe and steady income. Until he began to feel the force of inflation, that is.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, food prices in October rose 10.1 percent year-on-year, the highest rate in two years. Vegetable prices alone climbed 18 percent.

The result has led to a massive 4.4-percent growth for China's consumer price index, a key indicator of inflation.

"Take the retail price of long beans," said Wang in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province. "To buy 1 jin (a Chinese measurement equal to 500 grams) has almost doubled from 2 yuan to 3.5 yuan in the last month."

The father of two is used to taking home roughly 3,000 yuan (US$450) a month but explained things are getting so tight he could be forced to delay buying his younger daughter a new winter coat.

Under the pressure of high inflation, the State Council last week announced a package of measures to prevent further price hikes, including increasing supplies of vegetables and daily necessities, as well as offering subsidies to low-income families.

On Nov 19, China's central bank also raised the reserve requirement ratio (the amount commercial banks must hold in customer deposits) by 50 basis points for the second time in nine days.

"The recent moves by the Chinese government indicate the nation has realized the importance and necessity of normalizing monetary policy and suppressing high inflation," said Wang Tao, head of China economic research at UBS Securities, a global financial services firm.

Greater burden

When China witnessed its fastest rate of inflation in more than a decade in January 2008, the root cause was the increase in energy costs. In response, officials issued temporary price freezes for oil, natural gas and electricity, as well as daily goods and public transport.

However, this time the surge is more due to "bad weather, a continuous rise in the costs of labor and land, and speculation", according to Zhou Wangjun, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission's price department.

Regardless of the cause, the effect on consumers is the same: bigger food bills.

China's major dairy producers, including Yili Group and Bright Dairy, have increased their prices for liquid milk products by 4 to 10 percent, with further to come in the months ahead, an industry source told China Daily.

McDonald's, the world's largest fast food chain, also announced it will add 0.5 to 1 yuan on menu items at more than 1,200 restaurants across China due to the "rising cost of raw materials".

Lin Jinquan, a taxi driver with a teenage daughter in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province, said his family's daily food expenditure has risen from 40 yuan to 60 yuan in recent weeks, putting an extra strain on his monthly 2,500-yuan salary.

"Inflation is everywhere," said the 40-year-old. "When I'm driving, I hear about it on the radio. When I go home, I listen to my wife complaining about it. Even when I stop for lunch, some of my favorite dishes are missing from the menu.

"I really have no idea what to do," he added.

To help people like Lin, local authorities are expected to launch their own measures and report their progress to the central government at the end of this month.

In Beijing, officials have announced plans to provide subsidies worth a total 22.3 million yuan to low-income families, while Shanghai has frozen prices of taxi services, and electricity and gas supplies.

On Nov 18, the National Development and Reform Commission also stated on its website that recent initiatives to crack down on fruit and vegetable speculation were already paying off, with declines seen in the prices of several goods.