Inflation is touching the lives of nearly everyone in Shanghai. The price of a beef-filled snack at a store popular with office workers in the central business district has jumped from 1.5 yuan apiece to 1.7 yuan. Bottled water, found in many Shanghai homes, has risen to 17 yuan from 16 yuan just a week ago.

 

Domestic help has also become more expensive. Cleaner Cai Li said her hourly rate has risen by 30 percent to 10 yuan.

 

"I need the extra money to buy food for my family," she said.

 

The average price of pork at the city's markets has increased 25 percent to 26 yuan per kg and egg prices have averaged around 8 yuan per kg. Prices of fish and chicken have also increased 10 to 15 percent from the year before.

 

Some shoppers in Shanghai have had no option but to increase their spending on food materials.

 

Zhang Huizhen, general manager of a Taiwanese restaurant on Huaihai Zhonglu in Shanghai's business center, told China Daily that its profit margin has shrunk as food prices went up over the past few months.

 

"The rising cost of food supplies has wiped at least 5 to 10 percent from our profit," Zhang said.

 

"We can't afford to pass on the extra cost to customers by upping our prices because of stiff competition in the industry."

 

The general manager of Ajisen-Ramen restaurant in Lujiazui said that the chain's 42 outlets in Shanghai had all raised their prices as a result of the surging cost of food, including meat and eggs, in Shanghai.

 

But he declined to give details of the increased prices.

 

Yuan Yuan, a 26-year-old working at a Japanese advertising company in Shanghai, said rising costs are affecting her lifestyle.

 

"A growing portion of my salary is going to food and other daily necessities, squeezing my budget for other expenses like clothing and entertainment," she said.

 

"I can't afford a holiday away this year."

 

But some are being hit even harder by inflation. "We are eating less pork and eggs, because we can't afford the higher prices," said a woman surnamed Xu, who works at a State-owned firm for a salary of 2,000 yuan per month.

 

Shang Youzhen, a 50-year-old living in Shanghai's Changning District, said she goes to the supermarket later in the day to try to snap up discounted products.

 

"And when I get wind of another food price rise, I rush to the market to buy up a large amount before it kicks in."

 

(China Daily August 14, 2007)