BEIJING — China has released 48,000 metric tons of frozen pork from its central reserves in July to increase market supply and stabilize prices, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Aug 17.

Due to increasing demand from the recovering catering industry and flood-incurred disruptions in production and transportation, prices of pork, a staple meat in China, went up 10.3 percent last month from June.

Driven by the rising pork and vegetable prices, China's consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, grew 2.7 percent year-on-year last month, expanding from a 2.5-percent gain in June and a 2.4-percent rise in May, official data showed.

"The food price fluctuations in July were within normal ranges," NDRC spokesperson Meng Wei said at a press briefing.

Since the beginning of this year, the government has taken several measures to boost supply, including releasing frozen pork from reserves and increasing imports.

To soften the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak, China has ramped up financial support, including subsidies and loans to major pig-producing counties to restore production.