CRI听力:China sees major price hike of pork and fruits in June

Official figures show that China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, increased by 2.7 percent year on year, with the rise in food prices mainly driven by increasing pork and fruit prices.

Official data shows that pork prices have continued to rise during the first half of the year.

Pork was 50 percent more expensive last month than it was a year ago, indicating that the African swine fever epidemic is taking a toll.

Zhang Junhua is a manager at Beijing's Xinfadi wholesale market.

He said the price surge is caused by a shortage of hog supply.

"The main reason is that the stock of hogs in the three provinces in the northeast has declined. The pork supply in the market has been at a comparatively low level so far this year."

Pork is the staple meat in China, and the country is the world's biggest producer and consumer of pork.

Bans on shipping pigs out of areas with outbreaks have caused shortages in major cities.

Aside from increasing efforts to control the spread of the decease, authorities are offering incentives to major hog producing areas to encourage a rebound in pig farming.

But it will take time before these efforts lead to lower prices in the retail market.

Xia Chenfeng is a market analyst who is warning that pork prices will rise further due to the tight supply.

"In May, the nationwide stock of hogs declined by 22.9 percent compared with the same period last year. In June, the hog supply in pig production areas in the north tended to be tight, which affects sentiment among pig farmers, who tend to be reluctant to sell out. The hog supply will be tight. In the future, the hog price will keep continue its upward trend.

Food prices grew over 8 percent year on year last month, with the price of fruit hitting a record high 40 percent increase from last year.

Officials said that the rising price of certain fruits is a result of the heavy rain across large parts of southern China, which affected picking and transportation.

A senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Xu Qiyuan, said that despite the rising food prices, China's CPI has been stable.

"The government work report earlier this year set China's target for consumer inflation growth at around 3 percent for this year. That's a key number. Currently the CPI is approaching the ceiling of 3 percent and is showing a stable trend, which is a positive signal."

The new batch of data released by the National Bureau of Statistics also showed that China's producer price index, which measures the cost of goods at the factory gate, rose less than one percent year on year in the first half.

The figure was flat in June from a year ago.

Market analysts attribute the tepid performance to a lack of effective consumption and rising uncertainty in global markets.

Some experts say that to bolster growth of the manufacturing sector, China will put more effort into boosting domestic consumption for the rest of the year.