The National Bureau of Statistics reported the CPI, the main gauge of inflation, rose to 8.5 percent in April from 8.3 percent in March but was below a 12-year-high of 8.7 percent in February.

Food prices, which soared 22.1 percent in April, were largely blamed for the April rise. Non-food prices in April were up 1.8 percent year-on-year.

Chinese monetary authorities have said fighting inflation will remain the top policy over growth and employment.

Since last year, the central bank has boosted interest rates six times and raised reserve requirement ratio 13 times to curb inflation and prevent economic overheating.

Yin Jianfeng at the Institute of Finance and Banking of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said China still faces high inflationary pressure driven by growing domestic demand.

In the first four months of this year, the CPI has risen 8.2 percent from last year. The government target is to keep the CPI increase to about 4.8 percent this year.