Egg, garlic prices surge in China

BEIJING - China has seen egg and garlic prices surge over the past two weeks despite expectations that inflation will further moderate, drawing calls for better distribution and information services to stabilize farm produce prices.

The average price of fresh eggs soared nearly 20 percent from May 21 to Tuesday, the fastest increase recorded, according to latest statistics from a farm produce price monitoring system run by Xinhua News Agency.

In six provinces and cities including Beijing, egg prices rose by more than 30 percent in that period.

From May 21 to Monday, the country's average garlic price jumped more than 30 percent, the monitoring results show.

During that period, garlic prices advanced by more than 50 percent in six provinces and cities, with the highest growth of 86.6 percent recorded in Central China's Henan province.

The rises came after China's inflation rate slowed to 3.4 percent in April from 3.6 percent in March and was widely expected to ease further in May due to falling food prices and the base effect.

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