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BEIJING (Reuters) - China's high January and February readings for inflation have increased the pressure on the government to take action to counter price rises, Commerce Minister Chen Deming said on Wednesday.

Annual consumer inflation jumped to 8.7 percent in February after hitting 7.1 percent in January, the worst in more than 11 years.

Chen told reporters that consumer inflation would stabilize at a high level over the next few months and then ease in the second half, as the impact of recent snowstorms subsided and because of a higher base of comparison from the second half of 2007.

The government still hoped it could hit its target of keeping consumer inflation to within last year's pace of 4.8 percent, said Chen, who was speaking at a news conference held on the sidelines of the session of parliament.

Chen said an important reason underlying China's inflation was international price rises, especially for energy and agricultural products.

(Reporting by Zhou Xin; Writing by Jason Subler; editing by Ken Wills)