China's farm produce prices continue to fall

BEIJING - China's farm produce prices continued to fall last week, official figures showed Tuesday, as the country's inflationary pressure is expected to ease further in June.

The wholesale prices of 18 types of vegetables dropped 2.5 percent last week from the week before, declining for two months in a row and down 28.6 percent from the beginning of May, the Ministry of Commerce said.

The price of pork, a staple meat in China, retreated last week after two weeks of rising, down 0.7 percent from the week before and 21.2 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said.

The retail egg price decreased for a second week, down 0.4 percent from the week before.

However, beef and mutton prices rose slightly, up 0.8 percent and 0.4 percent respectively from the previous week. The price of chicken edged up 0.2 percent.

The downward trend in farm produce prices may help further ease domestic inflationary pressure as food prices account for a near one-third weighting in the calculation of China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation.

China's inflation rate eased to a 17-month low of 3 percent in May and is expected to drop to below 3 percent, maybe even as low as 2.5 percent, in June, analysts have forecast.