China issued more gloomy inflation news Friday, saying prices of farm goods jumped 25.5 percent in the first quarter and housing costs were up 11 percent in March despite efforts to damp price rises that are battering ordinary Chinese.
Communist leaders, worried about a possible public backlash, are trying to ease food shortages blamed for the price spike that began in mid-2007. But winter storms disrupted that effort, and analysts expect inflation to stay high as late as May before subsides.

Retail consumer prices rose 8.3 percent in March, a slight decline from February's 8.7 percent, the highest rate in nearly 12 years. That was driven by a 21 percent rise in food costs, including a 66.7 percent increase for pork, the country's staple meat.

In its latest move, the government said Friday it will pay subsidies to egg farmers to increase output and avert possible shortages that could push up prices, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.