China's farm produce prices continue to fall

BEIJING - China's farm produce prices continued to fall in the week ending July 1 due to persistent drops in vegetable prices, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

The price index for farm produce edged down 0.8 percent in the past week, compared with a 0.9 percent fall the previous week. The index for production materials fell 0.3 percent.

The average wholesale price of 30 kinds of vegetables fell 2.7 percent from a week earlier.

The wholesale price of pork, the country's staple meat, rose 0.6 percent from the previous week. The price of beef gained 0.3 percent and mutton went down 0.3 percent.

The wholesale price of eggs fell 1.1 percent.

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

China's consumer price index rose 1.8 percent year-on-year in May. Food prices increased by 0.1 percent, resulting in a growth of 0.01 percent in the price index.