BEIJING -- The prices of China's farm produce continued to fall in the week ending May 8, but at a slower rate than that of the previous week, the Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.

During the week of May 2 to 8, the average wholesale prices of 18 types of vegetables dropped 3.1 percent from the previous week, the ministry said in a statement on its website. The decline rate was 1.1 percentage points lower than that of the previous week, it said.

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The price of onions and peppers slid by 11.6 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively, last week from a week earlier, while the price of celery and Chinese cabbage rose 15.8 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively, from the previous week, the statement said.

The price of mutton and beef dipped 0.9 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, while the price of pork and chicken rose 0.1 percent from a week ago.

The retail price of eggs rebounded 0.3 percent last week from the week before, snapping a continuous fall since mid-February.

Food prices accounted for one third of the calculation of consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, in China, which rose to a 32-month high of 5.4 percent in March, exceeding the government's full-year target of 4 percent.

The index data is scheduled to be released Wednesday and is estimated to be above 5 percent but lower than the March figure.