A customer looks at price tags at a supermarket in Huaibei, Anhui Province, Feb. 10, 2015. (Photo : REUTERS)
Prices of farm products rose in 36 major Chinese cities last week in anticipation of the country's traditional Spring Festival on Feb.19 and partly due to consumer inflation.
From Feb. 9-15, the average prices for 18 vegetables led by cowpeas, green peppers and cucumbers surged 6.3 percent from a week earlier, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced on Tuesday.
Prices for chicken rose 1 percent and eggs were up 0.5 percent. The price of aquatic products were up 0.6 percent from the week before. Beef and mutton also commanded slightly higher prices.
Higher demand for food products is typical around major festivals. The Spring Festival is the most important traditional festival in China and allows people to enjoy a week-long rest.
Food prices account for 31.79 percent of the prices used to calculate the consumer price index (CPI), which is a major gauge of inflation.
China's CPI slipped to a five-year low of 0.8 percent year-on-year in January, while factory deflation worsened.
It followed increases of 1.5 percent in December, 1.4 percent in November and 1.6 percent in October and September.
"Today's data confirmed the economic slowdown in January, while intensifying disinflation will weigh further on firms' profit margins," noted Julia Wang, Greater China economist at HSBC.
The timing of the Lunar New Year--which fell on Jan. 31 in 2014 but is on Feb. 19 this year--may have exaggerated weakness in the inflation number due to higher pre-holiday spending in January last year.
Furthermore, prices of food eased to 1.1 percent in January from 2.9 percent in December, accounting for about 80 percent of the decrease in January inflation, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
