(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-11-21 11:54

Amid growing inflationary concerns, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture announced Tuesday it would issue monthly reports on agricultural product prices to increase "market transparency and offer guiding information for farmers".

"The fluctuations of agricultural products are closely related to the overall performance of the national economy," Gao Hongbin, vice minister of agriculture, told reporters.

"They also affect the interests of both producers and consumers."

Rising farm product prices have done little to benefit farmers, the minister said, with most of the gains going to those who process, deliver, sell and consume the products.

He said domestic prices were increasingly influenced by global markets, whose influence could be transmitted to China through imports and futures exchanges.

Global wheat stocks are the lowest since 1976 and supplies of other major agricultural products are also tightening.

Driven by high grain and pork prices, China's consumer price index, a key barometer of inflation, rebounded to 6.5 percent in October, up from 6.2 percent in September to match the 11-year monthly record in August.

"There is a strengthening correlation between prices of agricultural products and other primary commodities such as oil and coal," said Gao,

Oil prices recovered Tuesday from an early slide as the US dollar hit a new low against the euro, attracting speculators who trade oil futures using other currencies.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery was US$95.60 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at midday European time.

Zhu Hongren, a deputy department director at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said high crude oil prices have already put pressure on production materials, which in turn could drive up prices of industrial products and commodities.

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