BEIJING - The prices of farm produce in 36 major Chinese cities continued to climb last week, according to official data on Wednesday.

Wholesale prices of 18 kinds of vegetables went up 7 percent in the week ending September 8 compared with the week earlier, a Ministry of Commerce statement said.

The price of tomatoes rose 21.1 percent from the previous week, the cost of aubergines, or eggplants, gained 18.7 percent and the price of romaine lettuce went up 13.3 percent.

The price of eggs rose 1.4 percent from the previous week.

However, the average wholesale prices of eight aquatic products dropped 1 percent from a week earlier.

The cost of food accounts for about one-third of the prices used to calculate China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation.

The CPI rose 2.6 percent year on year in August, down from 2.7 percent in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.