THE average wholesale price of pork hit 20.15 yuan (US$2.67) a kilogram last month in China, rising 86.5 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Agriculture said today.

The price rose 6.8 percent on a monthly basis, the ministry said.

The wholesale price of beef grew 27.43 percent from a year earlier to 20.66 yuan a kilogram and rose 8.12 percent from a month earlier, the ministry said.

The growth of egg prices has been controlled with prices dropping 10.7 percent from July, although the price still grew 22.9 percent on a yearly basis.

The average wholesale price of four kinds of vegetables, including cabbage, celery and spinach, rose 35 percent from a year earlier to 1.71 yuan a kilogram on average, up 8.7 percent from a month earlier, the report said.

The average price of seven kinds of fruits, including watermelon, banana, mango and pineapple, rose 6.6 percent to 2.56 yuan from a year earlier, an increase of 4.2 percent from July, the ministry said.

China's inflation rate posted its fastest growth in a decade in August on surging food costs.

The consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, jumped 6.5 percent last month, the biggest monthly jump since the beginning of 1997, the National Statistic Bureau announced this morning.

Food costs, accounting for a third of the CPI basket, were the main driver of August's inflation growth after increasing costs of foodstock pushed up meat prices.

Prices of food surged 18.2 percent year on year after rising 15.4 percent a month earlier. Within the category, meat and poultry prices soared 49.0 percent, following last month's 45.2 percent jump. Egg costs surged 23.6 percent and grain costs were up 6.4 percent.