Low earners feel impact of spiralling food bills
Beijing resident Wang Mingzhen left a supermarket yesterday with two bags of food, a depleted wallet and a downcast face. One of her bags contained spinach, cucumbers and eggs while the other had some pork ribs.
'I can't believe that cost me almost 100 yuan - our food budget for the week,' she said.
Ms Wang, 69, said the cost of 500 grams of pork ribs had risen by two yuan to 18 yuan in the past month.
Her experience of escalating prices was reflected in National Bureau of Statistics data released yesterday which showed the consumer price index rose 4.4 per cent last month. About one-third of the CPI is based on food.
Bureau spokesman Li Xiaochao said Beijing should not take the CPI increase lightly, because price rises caused big problems for most families. Among the foods included in the index, grain prices climbed 6.4 per cent in the first half of the year, meat rose 20.7 per cent and eggs went up 27.9 per cent.
Mr Li said increases for grain were the direct result of higher prices on international markets and the surge in the price of meat, especially pork, was mainly caused by farmers' lack of interest in rearing pigs due to high breeding costs.
Ms Wang said pork prices were forcing her family to eat less meat.
'It has put a lot of extra pressure on my budget, especially when the pork price has almost doubled since March but my pay has not changed,' she said.
The higher food costs are also putting pressure on restaurants. Hu Yusheng, manager of Beijing's downtown Jingcheng eatery, said he had raised the price of dishes by one to three yuan in a month.
'We try to keep our prices as low as we can because of fierce competition, but the higher ingredient costs forced us to change,' he said.
Retired cadre Zhang, who lives in Beijing with his wife on a 1,200-yuan monthly pension, said he felt he had been betrayed by the government.
'Every time they need money, they get their hands into the poorest people's pocket, not remembering everything I have done for the country in the past 40 years,' Mr Zhang said.
Meanwhile, in Shenzhen, egg prices have increased by more than 20 per cent to 4.5 yuan/kg while pork, oil and vegetables prices have also soared.
But Shenzhen office employee Wang Ruiyue said she could still handle the increases. 'Lots of items are more expensive than before. But I seldom cook by myself so it does not affect me too much,' Ms Wang said.
In Shanghai, housewife Li Qiuqing said the higher prices for pork and eggs had hit her family.
'I earn 1,100 yuan per month and my daughter is at primary school. Usually we eat a lot of pork but ... I have had to [buy] beef to add nutrients to our diet,' Ms Li said.
Al Guo in Beijing, He Huifeng in Shenzhen, Alice Yan in Shanghai and Ivan Zhai in Guangzhou
