China to revise price manipulation penalties to tame inflation

China has said it will revise penalties on price manipulations, stepping up its measures to tackle inflation.

The revisions are aimed at cracking down on price manipulation, collusion, malicious hoarding and the spreading of false information, said a statement issued by China’s State Council.

“Revision to the Provisions on Administrative Penalties for Price Violations is necessary to crack down on price violations and to maintain normal order and market pricing,” the statement said.

However, the state council did not provide any details on the revisions and wanted to make the new code public after further revisions.

A surge in food prices propelled Chinese consumer prices to a 25-month high in October, despite the government's efforts to control inflation. Food prices in the world’s second largest economy went up by 10.1 percent in October year-on-year.

In the first 10 days of November, prices of 18 types of vegetables went up by 62.4 percent year on year, while prices of garlic and ginger increased 95.85 percent and 89.5 percent respectively, the ministry of commerce said.

Recently, the Chinese government announced various measures to curb rising consumer prices which included increasing food supplies and other necessities, rising subsidies for low-income families and initiating more targeted policy measures to keep the market in order.

However, consumer price index in China is likely to stay slightly above the government’s target of 3 percent in 2010, according to the Chinese State Information Center (SIC).