China puts freeze on government-set prices-

CHINA has frozen all government-regulated prices through the end of this year and ordered regulatory agencies to "closely monitor" food prices and supplies during the upcoming holidays after inflation hit a decade high last month.

The order was published yesterday on the Website of the National Development and Reform Commission, and was jointly issued by the commission and the ministries of finance, agriculture and commerce, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

The government also required subordinate agencies to monitor the production, sale and storage of key daily necessities such as cooking oil, pork, eggs, seafood and mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Tuesday, and the week-long National Day holiday, which begins on October 1.

The state controls the prices of cooking oil, sugar, gasoline, tobacco, salt, coal and fertilizer.

Yesterday's order came after the Consumer Price Index, the main gauge of inflation, escalated to 6.5 percent in August, its highest monthly rise in 11 years, boosted by a double-digit increase in food prices, including a huge runup in pork costs.

Over the first eight months, consumer prices rose 3.9 percent from a year earlier, putting the central bank's three percent target for the entire year in serious jeopardy.

Pork prices have soared due to a disease that killed more than 70,000 swine this year and also because of rising feed costs.

The central government has attempted to bring down the price of pork by encouraging farmers to raise more pigs with promises of free vaccinations and other forms of aid.

The order said government bodies should make sure that food supplies are adequate during the upcoming festivals.

The country's pork reserves can be used during the holidays if necessary to maintain "market stability," the statement said.