According to the monitoring by MOFCOM, the prices of major farm products in 36 large and medium-sized cities remained steady last week (May 12-18), but the prices of the means of production continued to fall.

Last week, with the increase of market supply as seasonal vegetables in north China going into the market, the average wholesale price of 18 vegetables went down 3.4% compared with that of the previous week, 1.1 percentage points further than the decrease rate of the previous week. The prices of green bean, cucumber and green pepper saw the most decrease, down 9.95%, 9.6% and 7.8% respectively week on week. The retail prices of grain and edible oil were stable with slight decrease, with the prices of rice, flour and soybean oil all down 0.2%, and prices of peanut oil and rapeseed oil remaining the same as those of the previous week. The price of meat saw ups and downs, with the price of pork up 2.2% from the previous week and the prices of beef and mutton down 0.1% and 0.3% respectively. The retail prices of poultry and eggs rose slightly, with the price of eggs up 0.8%, 0.3 percentage points lower than the growth rate of the previous week, and chicken up 0.1%. The average wholesale price of aquatic products rose 0.7%, with the prices of carp, chub and carp up 1.9%, 1.4% and 1.3% respectively.

Last week, the price of steel dropped 0.2 %, with the prices of H-shaped steel, ordinary round steel, and deformed steel bar down 0.4%, 0.3% and 0.3% respectively. The prices of chemical products saw ups and downs, with the prices of methyl alcohol and low density polyethylene down respectively 3.5% and 0.8%, while the prices of styrene and purified petroleum benzene up 1.8% and 1.2% respectively. The price of coal remained unchanged, with the prices of lignite, bituminous coal and anthracite stable. The price of rubber went up 0.4%, with the prices of standard rubber produced in China and imported smoked sheet rubber up 1.5% and 1.3% respectively, price of butadiene-styrene rubber down 0.6% and prices of butadiene-acrylonitrile rubber and butadiene rubber remained stable. The prices of non-ferrous metals rose 1.4%, with the prices of copper, tin and nickel up 3.2%, 1.1% and 1.1% respectively, and the prices of zinc, aluminum, and lead up 0.8%, 0.6% and 0.5% respectively.