JINAN, Aug. 13 -- The weekly China Shouguang vegetable price index rose 9.8 percent week on week to 107.67 points in the week ending Sunday.

The large-scale rainstorms brought by Typhoon Lekima recently raised harvesting, shipping and storage costs of vegetables, especially top-quality ones, thus drove up the prices.

The upward price trend was also attributed to a lower production of local vegetables which had been mostly harvested to get greenhouses ready for the next cultivation season and an increase in demand as the rain cooled down the summer.

Among all the 10 vegetable varieties covered by the index, six categories saw increase in the sub-reading. Sub-indices for two others remained flat.

The closely-watched vegetable price index was published by the city of Shouguang in Shandong, China's major vegetable production base and vegetable distribution and price-setting center.

The index was approved by the Ministry of Commerce in 2010 and first published on April 20, 2011 to offer more timely and accurate reference for vegetable growers and traders.