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.

虽然消费品价格的整体涨幅并未达到官方发布的通胀标准，食品价格上涨带来的压力却正在向消费者逼近。

本周六，正在逛北京某菜市场的王老先生和老伴李女士表示，最近的食品价格一直在上涨。个人物品的价格涨幅看似不大，但却对他们固定的养老金收入造成了威胁。

同样在周六，北京团结湖社区京客隆超市一位不愿透露姓名的售货员反映说，包括鲁花和金龙鱼在内的几个食用油品牌的价格本月已经上涨了9%左右。

而零售商方面的资料显示：过去两个月内，鸡蛋价格从7.2元/千克上涨至7.6元/千克（1.05美元上涨至1.11美元）;蔬菜价格自年中起平均上涨了50%以上；猪肉价格则从几个月前的18元/千克（2.64美元）上涨至20.1元/千克（2.94美元）,上涨了9-10个百分点。

"玉米价格上涨了15%-20%,小麦价格上涨了10%.油料作物如大豆和花生价格则相比一年前翻了一番", 赵建东，一家山西种业公司的总经理说。

中国青年报最近所做的一项调查表明，20,000名受访者中，有62.2%的人对价格表示忧虑。近三分之一的人表示，他们的工资低于去年。

作为中国通胀指标的消费者物价指数（CPI）今年11月与去年同比增长0.6%,而过去的9个月里，这一指标一直处于下降趋势。国家统计局周五表示，食品在CPI指数成分中占有30%的比例。

翰威特公司2009/2010年工资增长调查显示，中国社会平均工资今年增幅为4.5%,这是工资增长率在过去五年里首次出现大幅下降。但在失业和就业竞争激烈的情况下，多数人很难得到加薪--中国社会科学院研究员陈乃兴表示。