CHINA’S statistics authority yesterday said food prices, including those for staples, meat, edible oil and vegetables, continued rising in the first 10 days this month compared with the previous 10 days.

Prices of rice and flour both rose 0.2 percent, and the price of soybean oil rose 0.8 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The price of pork remained stubbornly high and was up 0.8 percent. The pork price in August surged 45.5 percent from a year ago, and was the leading contributor to the surging food prices, which rose 13.4 percent year-on-year last month. The price of beef rose 1.1 percent and chicken rose 0.6 percent.

Earlier, the bureau said the Consumer Price Index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 6.2 percent year on year in August, far above the government’s 4 percent target for the year.