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

The Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday in an online statement that the wholesale price of pork, the country's staple meat, fell 1 percent week on week, while the price of beef saw a 0.1-percent rebound since the previous week.

Prices of mutton and chicken also dropped 0.1 percent week on week, according to the statement.

Average wholesale prices for 18 vegetables on the monitored list followed the trend, declining 2.2 percent week on week.

The ministry attributed the decline to abundant supplies of vegetables in north China.

Retail prices for cooking oil also dipped while those for rice and flour rose 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent week on week, respectively.

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.