The government on Friday said it would take steps to check speculation and rampant price hikes in garlic and other agricultural commodities.

Wholesale prices of garlic have risen more than ten-fold from a year earlier to about 12.2 yuan ($ 1.78) per kilogram at the end of April, sources with the National Bureau of Statistics said.

Several investigation teams have already been dispatched to the major production zones and markets to study factors like output, supply, flow and price change of commodities, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

An unnamed NDRC official said garlic prices rose mainly due to short supplies as the area under garlic cultivation has been shrinking due to lower prices in the past few years.

"The department along with the price supervision authorities will strengthen price monitoring and pre-warning efforts for commodities and stem unreasonable price surges," the official said.

He said speculation on rice flour in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and on pseudo-ginseng in Guangdong and Yunnan province have been checked with help from the authorities.

"Malpractices like speculation and hoarding will be checked to restore market order," he said.

With moderate weather expected to prevail for the next few months, agricultural produce would come to the markets in bigger quantities, the official said.

The impact of high vegetable and fruit prices on the market will also diminish. The prime task for the government would be to ensure adequate supplies at stable prices, he said.

Sources said hoarding of garlic was one of the reasons for the sharp rise in prices apart from other factors like inclement weather in the growing regions.

"Besides the demand and supply dynamics, hoarding of the stocks also added fuel to the fire," Dai Zhongjiu, director of the China Vegetable Circulation Association told Xinhua News Agency.

An Yufa, director for research center of agricultural products circulation and marketing from China Agricultural University said the speculative impact was seen in the production zones as traders scrambled to purchase, air-cure and hoard garlic.

Reports indicated that some businessmen started buying garlic even before the crop was harvested for about 60,000 yuan per hectare in Qixian county, Henan province.

Zhang Shuqing, a garlic farmer from Menglizhai village of Qixian, sold all his garlic crop even before it was harvested.

The garlic, while still in the fields, was bought by a businessman from Shandong.

Sources said such speculation could hamper the government efforts to contain year-on-year Consumer Price Index (CPI) growth at 3 percent in jeopardy.

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