GUANGZHOU: Despite a fall in the consumer price index (CPI) in May, vegetable prices in this southern mainland city will likely see a big increase this month due to continuous heavy rain, an industry insider said yesterday.

"Supplies of vegetables have been greatly affected by the heavy downpours, which began hitting the city and its neighboring areas since the end of last month," said an official surnamed Wu with the Guangzhou Price Bureau.

The average food price in Guangzhou last month was down by 1.4 percent from April, with a 22 percent plummet in vegetable price, sources at the bureau said.

"The vegetable price was down since last month was a good time for vegetable growth. But it took a sharp turn this month due to limited supply," said Wu.

The vegetable price index has seen a fast increase recently, with the wholesale price of spinach increasing from 3.5 yuan per kg half a month ago to 4.9 yuan per kg yesterday, according to the website www.clz.gov.cn, the city's official web portal of price indexes.

"Continuous heavy rainfall has led to floods in many suburbs. As a result, supplies have been greatly affected," said Huang Meiguang, a vendor at the Jiangnan Vegetable and Fruit Wholesale Center.

According to Huang, the daily supply of fresh kidney beans has dropped from 4,500 kg to about 1,000 kg.

"There are additional supplies from other areas. But due to high transportation costs, the price is still high," said Huang.

Huang estimated that vegetable prices will continue to rise in the coming days as bad weather is still in the forecast.

"Once the weather turns better, farmers will start planting more vegetables again. But it will take at least one month for the supply to return to the normal level." Huang said.

In another development, traffic facilities have been seriously damaged in the province, with at least 11 major roads still being blocked yesterday.

The Longtang section of Beijing-Guangzhou Railway which had been blocked by landslide since Sunday has been reopened yesterday morning.

(HK Edition 06/18/2008 page1)