China has vowed to "temporarily intervene" in the market to prevent excessive price rises for food and daily necessities, raising the spectre of an enlarged state role in the economy as part of an anti-inflation campaign.

The measures, announced yesterday by the State Council, China's cabinet, come after sharp rises in inflation, which has hit 11-year highs, driven by higher food prices.

However, it is not clear whether the measures are an effort to talk down potential price rises or a more serious effort to force producers and retailers to forestall increases in line with government demands.

The announcement said enterprises producing "general necessities" should register with local price bureaux if they wanted to lift prices.

The cabinet did not outline what level of price increase was required to be registered, but some guidelines were separately issued this month by the chief economic planning agency.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) asked for retail and wholesalers of meat, milk and animal feedstock to register one-off price increases of more than 5 per cent, or accumulated rises of 8 per cent, over October 2007 prices.

The local authorities could ask for the prices to be "readjusted" if they judged them to be "unreasonable", according to the NDRC, but the ability to enforce such dictates may be limited.

Mark Williams, of Capital Economics in London, said China's decision to force companies to report to it before raising prices was "an unwelcome step in the direction of price controls".

China's actions are the most aggressive since Russia imposed food price controls three months ago. Other countries have taken defensive measures, including Argentina, which has raised foreign sales tariffs to keep local markets well supplied.

Beijing's announcement did not specify which "living necessities" would be covered by the new policy, but the measures are almost certainly focused on staple foods such as meat and eggs.

Even though inflation has been largely confined to food, Beijing has become concerned about its effect on poorer citizens and the threat that it could spread to other parts of the economy.