Residents shop instant noodles at a super market in Weifang, East China's Shandong Province July 25, 2007. Instant noodle makers have decided to hike prices of their products starting from July 26, citing the rising cost of grain. [newsphoto]

Chinese urban residents reported a double-digit increase in disposal income in the first half of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

The urban dwellers' disposal income hit 7,052 yuan in the first six months, an increase of 17.6 percent over the same period last year, the bureau said in a statement on its website. The growth was 14.2 percent after adjustment for inflation.

During the period, per capita expenditure for this group of people topped 4,830 yuan for a 14.2 percent nominal rise and an 11 percent inflation-adjusted increase year-on-year.

Farmers' income also saw major gains, with their cash earnings reaching 2,111 yuan in the first half of 2007, the bureau said Wednesday. That marked a 13.3 percent jump year-on-year after adjustment for inflation, 1.4 percentage points higher than that over the same period last year.

The figures came after the Consumer Price Index, a barometer of inflation, grew 4.4 percent in June and 3.2 percent in the first half, above the central bank's target of three percent for the whole year.

The accelerating inflation was mainly driven by the rising price of foodstuffs, making life more difficult for low-income earners.

China's overall consumer price level will continue to rise slowly in the second half of this year, said Cao Changqing, pricing department director of the National Development and Reform Commission at a press conference on Wednesday.

The scale of the increase will depend on the harvest this autumn, Cao noted.