Food price rise won't cause serious China inflation -NBS

BEIJING, July 3 (Reuters) Rising global grain and food prices will not lead to a serious jump in China's inflation rate, a report by the National Bureau of Statistics said.

The report, produced by several statistics officials and published on the bureau's Web site (www.stats.gov.cn) today, said the impact of food price increases in China was ''limited and temporary'' and would not cause serious consumer inflation.

''Generally speaking, only food price increase over 20 percent will have a major impact on inflation, but the current food price growth in China is still within 10 percent,'' the report said.

China's consumer price index rose 3.4 per cent in May compared with a year earlier, a 27-month-high, in which food prices rose 8.3 percent and grain price increased 5.9 per cent.

According to the report, world grain price increases are an important factor underlying China's food inflation because China is a net importer of major grains.

But it suggested there was no need to worry about serious inflation because the country has abundant grain reserves and maintained stable prices in non-food consumer goods.

It said low-income urban households might be hardest hit by higher food prices.

REUTERS GL VC1028