Shoppers are feeling the pinch of rising food prices, though the overall increase in the price of consumer goods remains well below the official definition of inflation.

    An elderly couple surnamed Wang and Li shopping together for eggs at a Beijing market Saturday said food prices have been going up lately. The increase for individual items seems small but has put a dent in their fixed pension income, they said.

    A saleswoman at a Jingkelong supermarket in Beijing's Tuanjiehu neighborhood, who did not wish to give her name, said Saturday that cooking oil brands including Luhua and Jinlongyu raised their prices by about 9 percent earlier this month.

    Egg prices rose from 7.2 yuan to 7.6 yuan （$1.05 to $1.11） per kilogram in the last two months, vegetable prices on average have soared more than half since mid-year, and pork prices have risen about 9-10 percent from a couple of months ago, from 18 yuan （$2.64） per kilogram to 20.1 yuan （$2.94）, vendors said.

    Corn prices are up by 15 to 20 percent, while wheat has gotten 10 percent pricier. Oil ingredients such as soybeans and peanuts saw their prices double from a year ago, said Zhao Jiandong, general manager of a Shanxi-based seed company.

    According to a recent survey conducted by China Youth Daily, 62.2 percent of 20,000 respondents expressed concerns over prices, and about one-third said their salary was not higher than last year.

    China's inflation gauge, the Consumer Price Index （CPI）, increased 0.6 percent year-on-year in November, ending nine months of decline, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday. Food accounted for about 30 percent of the calculation of the CPI.

    The average overall salary increased 4.5 percent in China this year, according to the Hewitt 2009/2010 salary increase survey, a dramatic decline in the salary increase rate for the first time in the last five years. But with unemployment a problem and fierce competition for jobs, it's hard for many to get a pay raise, said Chen Naixing, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

    雖然消費品價格的整體漲幅并未達到官方發布的通脹標準，食品價格上漲帶來的壓力卻正在向消費者逼近。

    本周六，正在逛北京某菜市場的王老先生和老伴李女士表示，最近的食品價格一直在上漲。個人物品的價格漲幅看似不大，但卻對他們固定的養老金收入造成了威脅。

    同樣在周六，北京團結湖社區京客隆超市一位不愿透露姓名的售貨員反映說，包括魯花和金龍魚在內的幾個食用油品牌的價格本月已經上漲了9%左右。

    而零售商方面的資料顯示：過去兩個月內，雞蛋價格從7.2元/千克上漲至7.6元/千克（1.05美元上漲至1.11美元）;蔬菜價格自年中起平均上漲了50%以上；豬肉價格則從幾個月前的18元/千克（2.64美元）上漲至20.1元/千克（2.94美元）,上漲了9-10個百分點。

    "玉米價格上漲了15%-20%,小麥價格上漲了10%.油料作物如大豆和花生價格則相比一年前翻了一番", 趙建東，一家山西種業公司的總經理說。

    中國青年報最近所做的一項調查表明，20,000名受訪者中，有62.2%的人對價格表示憂慮。近三分之一的人表示，他們的工資低于去年。

    作為中國通脹指標的消費者物價指數（CPI）今年11月與去年同比增長0.6%,而過去的9個月里，這一指標一直處于下降趨勢。國家統計局周五表示，食品在CPI指數成分中占有30%的比例。

    翰威特公司2009/2010年工資增長調查顯示，中國社會平均工資今年增幅為4.5%,這是工資增長率在過去五年里首次出現大幅下降。但在失業和就業競爭激烈的情況下，多數人很難得到加薪--中國社會科學院研究員陳乃興表示。