BEIJING (Bloomberg) — China's inflation probably surged to another 11-year high in February on snowstorms that disrupted food supplies, making an interest-rate increase more likely.

Consumer prices rose 7.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the median estimate of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, after gaining 7.1 percent in January. The statistics bureau were due to release the figure early today.

China is grappling with how to tame inflation without triggering a sharp slowdown as a cooling global economy threatens export growth. Raising rates when the US Federal Reserve has cut them may attract more overseas money into a financial system already flooded with cash.

"It may be better to act early," says Michael Dai, a senior economist at Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd. "If inflation climbs to double digits they would have to slam on the brakes very hard."

Inflation is "the biggest concern of the people," Premier Wen Jiabao told lawmakers at the annual meeting of the National People's Congress last week. Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said "there is still room" to raise rates after six increases last year pushed the one-year lending rate to a nine- year high of 7.47 percent.

February's price surge was likely driven by blizzards that disrupted food and fuel supplies, said Paul Tang, an economist at Bank of East Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong.

"If you take out food and energy prices, inflation remains about one percent," said Tang. "So there are worries, but there's still a lack of evidence that inflation has spread to become a general problem."