| Bean products prices to increase tomorrow |
SHANGHAI, July 31 -- SEVERAL bean products makers in Shanghai will raise prices from tomorrow due to soaring food costs even though the country's top planning body warned firms to be cautious about such moves.
The price jump, the first in four years, will range from 10 percent to 20 percent as the cost of beans have risen since early this year.
Qingmei Green Food Co, one of the largest bean products makers in Shanghai, said prices of all its products would increase an average of 10 percent starting August 1.
To offset last quarter's loss, Hankang Bean Products Co will charge 15 percent more for its products, one of the firm's managers said.
The National Development and Reform Commission warned in an online statement yesterday that companies and industrial associations should not collude to raise prices amid a widespread growth in the cost of food.
Companies and organizations are not allowed to raise prices through any price-alliance or price-fixing deals, the statement said.
The Shanghai Bean Products Association denied that the price raise was collusion within the industry, but "an act of individual companies," the report said.
The association also added that the rise would make little difference to people's daily life as it was only about 10 percent.
Food officials with the Shanghai Economic Commission said yesterday that it had already sent inquiries to some bean products makers over the price rise and will intervene if the commission finds any price alliance between these companies.
Food manufacturers recently raised prices on daily consumer necessities like instant noodles and dairy products to cover costs of more expensive raw materials.
China's consumer price index, driven by the surging cost of food, grew 4.4 percent in June and 3.2 percent in the first half from a year earlier.
The growth has exceeded the country's annual target of three percent. Food makes up about a third of the index.
|
|
