The government's efforts to shore up the country's pork prices has started to take effect, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its website.

According to the monitoring data, prices rose in 18 provinces by the end of last week. The largest price increase was 2 percent compared with a week ago.

Pork prices have been depressed by weak demand and oversupply since the beginning of the year, leading to widespread financial losses for companies as well as farmers. In April, several government agencies rolled out the first round of State purchasing of frozen pork.

The ministry said in a statement that it has kicked off the second round, on "larger scale".