BEIJING -- Prices of edible farm produce in 36 major Chinese cities have declined for four consecutive weeks, new official data show.

The Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday in an online statement that the wholesale price of pork, the country's staple meat, fell 2.1 percent week on week, while the price of beef saw a 0.1-percent rebound during the period from March 11 to 17.

The prices of mutton and chicken remained unchanged from the previous week.

The ministry attributed the decline to abundant supplies and farmers' diminishing confidence in what the future holds for the meat market.

The average wholesale prices for 18 vegetables on the monitored list made a slight rebound of 0.2 percent week on week.

Wholesale prices for eight types of aquatic products dipped 0.9 percent from the previous week, as more fish were caught, the MOC said.

Food prices account for about one-third of the prices used to calculate China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation.

China's CPI grew by a 10-month high of 3.2 percent in February, due to rising food prices during the Spring Festival, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on March 9.