The ingredients for a special porridge to mark China's traditional Laba Festival, which falls on January 11, are more expensive than last year because of rising food prices, The Beijing News reported.

Laba, which literally means the eighth day of the last lunar month, refers to the start of celebrations for the Chinese Lunar New Year. Traditionally, Chinese people eat a special porridge made with rice and many kinds of beans on this day and pray for a good harvest and family reunion for the upcoming New Year.

In Daoxiangcun, a century-old grocery store and traditional food maker in Beijing, a package of rice-and-bean mixture costs eight yuan while last year the same package was only six yuan, the report said.

The prices of all the ingredients needed to make Laba porridge have increased, according to Daoxiangcun. For example, the price of lotus seeds has soared 120 percent over last year, while the price of glutinous rice is up 50 percent.

An unnamed employee who works at Yuquanlu wholesale market in west Beijing said the prices of red beans and mung beans have increased by 10 percent to 30 percent over last year, according to the report.

(CRIENGLISH.com January 11, 2011)